Eternity-014
by fatefulERA
Summary: There is no beginning or end. T014-06. (This SYOC is c-l-o-s-e-d! What does that spell? Closet! Huh? Oh wait...)
1. Prologue I: Past Tense

_Author's Note: Hello, hello, hello everyone! Please feel free to favorite/follow or drop a review. This is my first time writing here, so I'll do my very best. -fatefulERA_

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><p><strong>Prologue I: Past Tense<strong>

"_In recent news, scientists have discovered traces of an alternate timeline in which despair-"_

An average looking girl skipped across the busy crosswalk, not paying much attention to the mindless banter of the screens above the scramble crossing of Shibuya, Tokyo. Swinging in pace with the girl was a plastic bag full of various goods from the convenience store- instant ramen, convenience-store coffee, a few half-boiled eggs- the not-so-carefully selected mix would be her dinner for tonight, as it usually was.

She hummed quietly to herself, shoulder-length black hair ruffling as she made her way down various roads and alleyways, the tassels of her snow-white scarf fluttering behind her in the breeze. Finally, she reached her destination. The apartment complex in front of her was not particularly new, but not particularly old, either. The young girl found it to be incredibly cozy, so she skipped up the outdoor stairway with a smile on her face, beaming when she made it to her room. With a bit of fumbling, she inserted her key into the keyhole and pushed the door open to reveal the humble living space inside.

The girl did a little twirl as she stepped into the sparsely furnished room and closed the door tightly behind her. Bending down to undo the laces on her coffee-colored winter boots, she noticed a peculiar envelope sitting on the ground near her door.

_The mailman must have dropped it off earlier_, she decided, reaching over to pick the envelope up. _I wonder who it's from?_

After fiddling with the envelope's seal for a while and finally managing to get it undone, she took out a letter and held it up to the light to read:

_Dear Akina Hiroyuki,_

_You are formally invited to attend Hope's Peak Academy as the Super High School Level Theorist._

_Theorist?_ Akina wondered, bursting into a fit of giggles shortly after. _What a silly title! It's just my imagination at work._

She scanned over the details at the bottom of the letter regarding finances and several uninteresting, legal things. Tuition would apparently be paid for, and living expenses would be taken care of as long as she was an active student there. To accept her invitation, all she had to do was ride the 47th subway to the last stop on the first day of school, two days from now.

She grinned, the excitement building within her. Many talented students would be there, and she had been invited to attend as one of them. As she finally kicked off her boots and flopped backwards onto her couch, she sighed in content, hugging the letter close to her.

_It's going to be a great year!_

Oh, how wrong she'd been.

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><p><em>I won't be holding reservations but submissions will be open for a few days. Do your best, m'kay?<em>

_Just send me a PM if you'd like to submit, submissions in the reviews are a no-no. I can't wait to see all of your wonderful characters!_

OC Submission Form:

BASIC INFORMATION:

Name (given, surname):

SHSL:

Legacy (Is your character famous? If so, what are they known for?) (optional, if left blank they will have no legacy):

Age (14-18):

Gender:

Nationality (takes place in Japan):

Height:

Weight:

Appearance (eyes/hair color, hairstyle):

Unique Features (scars, etc.) (optional):

Clothing (one set):

PERSONAL INFORMATION:

Personality:

Any Illnesses/Disorders? (optional):

Family (parents, siblings):

History:

Fears:

Secret(s):

Darkest Secret:

Most Valued Thing (family member, item, etc.):

Likes:

Dislikes:

RELATIONSHIP (ONLY NEED TO FILL OUT IF RELATIONSHIP IS WANTED):

Relationship (Y/N)?:

Sexual Orientation:

Who would they be interested in?:

How would they act with this person?:

BEHAVIOR:

Habits (leaning on things, yawning, standing by windows, spacing out, etc.):

Speech Pattern (excited, lots of '…'s, addressing people as mister/miss, etc.):

Quotes (at least four):

BELIEFS:

What does your character value (hardwork, love, etc.)?:

What does your character think of gods/spirits?:

How would your character react to something that's supposed to only be a myth (dragons, magic, aliens, etc.)?:

SKILLS:

Strengths:

Weaknesses:

Talents/Skills (other than SHSL):

INVESTIGATION/MURDER:

Most Likely (victim/culprit/survivor):

Reaction to Body/Blood:

Role in Investigation:

Role in Trial:

Reaction to Violent Execution:

Motive to Kill:


	2. Prologue II: Bamboo Leaves are Rustling

**Prologue II: Bamboo Leaves are Rustling**

Akina carelessly opened up her pamphlet, flipping and rotating it a variety of ways until she found the schedule for the Tokyo metro.

_47th route… 47th route…_

She glanced at the overhead sign that read, "Platform 24". She was definitely at the right place. The transit was supposed to arrive any second now.

Singing softly to herself, Akina tucked the pamphlet into her bag and skipped around the empty station. It was late at night— 10:00 PM, to be exact —and most people had already gone home, leaving the theorist on her own. The invitation had said to take the 47th subway to the last stop on the first day of school, but it hadn't given her a requested time. With the 47th subway making thirty rounds a day, Akina had decided to take the very last one.

_"__Bamboo leaves are rustling, rustling," _Akina sang, leaping over cracks in the rundown pavement. _"Swaying close to the rooftop's edge,"_

She liked the silence. No one was there to interrupt her thoughts.

_"__Oh, how the stars are twinkling, twinkling; gold and silver grains of sand,"_

It was kind of lonely, though.

_"__Five little wishes; I have written,"_

From the distance, the low rumbling of the fast-approaching train could be heard. Akina strolled up to the edge of the platform, still singing as the speakers announced the arrival of the last train.

_"__All these stars are twinkling," _Akina chimed, as the transit pulled up and she stepped inside. _"... and watching from the sky."_

With her song complete, she sat down on one of the plush, fabric-covered seats and glanced around the empty train car. It appeared that she was the only one here, so late at night. Laying her head back and closing her eyes, she allowed herself to relax, wanting to rest a little before she arrived at the academy. She was rightfully tired; she had spent the entire day digging through her belongings and deciding what to pack. Eventually, she'd just stuffed a few sets of clothing into her bag and called it good, too lazy to even fold them properly.

She sighed in content, the subtle movements of the train rocking her to sleep. As her consciousness began to fade, she thought she heard a wispy voice, not unlike her own.

_"__These stars have stopped twinkling… and so I'll say goodbye."_


	3. Prologue III: Enter the Sea of Trees

**Prologue III: Enter the Sea of Trees**

Akina gasped, hands instinctively reaching up to claw at whatever clung onto the upper half of her face. Her hands couldn't get any traction along the object's smooth surface, the thing not budging even when she grasped onto the edges and pulled with all of her might. Leaves and dirt flew into the air as she flailed about, desperately fighting the inanimate attacker, before finally realizing that it wasn't hurting her. She drew in a deep breath, laying still as she caught her breath.

The mask on her face had sizable eyepieces, allowing Akina to see the tall green trees whose leafy branches filtered the sunlight around her. Roots and shrubbery intertwined into patchwork on the uneven forest floor, short cliffs and hills appearing occasionally in the distance.

Akina staggered to her feet, pulling a stray leaf off of her cherry-colored tailcoat and glancing around the area. _This way, _she heard a voice whisper, and froze. _Come this way._

She was hesitant about following the strange voice, desperately looking around for any guidance or other ways out. Still, with nowhere else to go, she set off in the direction that the voice had come from, and hoped for the best.

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><p>"Fuck!"<p>

In a different part of the forest, a boy dressed up in a black suit swore as he tripped on an inconspicuous vine.

"I gotta be fuckin' high or somethin…" he muttered. He'd been wandering around for the forest for maybe five minutes now, with no sense of direction and a mask on his face. The mask wouldn't come off, no matter how hard he tugged on it.

Frustrated, he kicked a nearby pebble into the air.

_This way, _he heard. He immediately stared at the pebble, thinking that it had spoke upon being kicked.

"You talkin' to me?"

_Come this way…_

The second time around, he realized that the voice was coming from the distance, and was not, in-fact, the rock speaking. _Finally, _he thought. _Some fuckin' directions._

Leaving the miserable little pebble behind, he stuffed his hands into the pockets of his black suit pants and followed the voice into the depths of the forest.

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><p>The worst part about this whole situation was that the mask wouldn't come off, no matter how hard he pulled. A mask? Oh no, that wouldn't do at all. How would the others see his pretty face?<p>

The boy sat on a tree stump, playing with the blue rose pinned onto the heart of his black school blazer. He sighed. It was so lonely and quiet here, with no one else around.

_This way, _he heard suddenly. He stood up, brushing off his black slacks and turning his head to the direction of the voice. _Come this way._

Lured in by the promising thought of a companion, the boy wandered off towards the voice.

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><p>"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What is this?!"<p>

The girl in a sky-blue pilot uniform leapt to her feet, glancing around frantically as she took in her surroundings.

"Trees, bushes, plants… this must be… a forest! Yes!"

She struck a triumphant pose, as if she'd just uncovered some major plotline. Unfortunately for her, her victory was short lived as she realized that she had no idea where she was, or where she should go. She paced back and forth, her silver medallion flopping around her neck as she took quick, energetic steps.

_This way, _a voice called. Not even waiting for the second, "come this way", the girl changed directions and almost ran towards the source of the voice.

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><p>The girl threw her head back and filled the area with the sound of deranged laughter, her light green hair falling to her waist behind her. Her eyes were wide in delight. This was amusing, so very amusing!<p>

A forest, and a completely silent one at that. Why was she in a forest? Why was there a mask on her face? There were so many questions to be answered, so many mysteries to be solved- this was much better than attending some simple-minded school!

Having recovered from her outburst, she cleared her throat and haughtily straightened out her tie.

_This way, _the presumed host called. Her face lit up in a wide grin. _Come this way._

Keeping her arms at her side to keep her red coat from catching in the branches, the girl eagerly pursued the source of the voice, and strode off towards the heart of the forest.

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><p>By the time Akina arrived at the clearing, the other students had already gathered. In total, she counted nineteen people, each with a mask of an animal on their faces. <em>What is mine? <em>she wondered, before strolling up to the crowd.

"Hello, hello, hello!" she greeted, arms outstretched as if giving them all a big hug. "I see I'm late to the party!"

"U-Um, that's okay…" a tiger-masked boy wearing a white martial arts uniform said. "We just got here too."

Somebody crossed their arms over their chest. "And you are?"

"I'm Akina Hiroyuki!" she did a little twirl, causing her black skirt to flutter into the air. "Very nice to meet you."

"A koi, huh?" A boy with a snake mask grinned unnervingly at Akina. "Guess you _are _the only fish out of water here… chehehehe…"

Akina's eyes widened in awe. "Ooh, I'm a koi?"

"That's right…"

_"__Now that everyone's here… shall we begin?"_

The raspy voice that had brought them all to the clearing reappeared, speaking from the air behind them. Akina turned around, immediately filled with a mix of surprise and wonder.

In the air was a dragon- half black, half white, and easily the size of a small house.

A gust of wind battered the students as the monochrome dragon grounded itself with a thud. Akina instinctively dug her heel into the earth behind her to keep herself from falling. She noticed that a few others hadn't responded so quickly, now on their backs in the dirt.

The dragon rumbled with laughter at this, its sharp-toothed grin causing a very selective few to cry out in terror.

_"__I'll take that as a yes," _it said, its voice deep and not unlike a smoker's.

"Wh-What are you?" someone cried.

_"__Me? I am a dragon, of course," _It approached the students, tail swaying in the background as it crawled on all four towards them. _"My name is Monoryuu, and from this point onwards, I will be your headmaster."_

"Headmaster..? No way, this can't be Hope's Peak! This is a forest!"

The dragon blinked with a unique red eye. _"Although this is not Hope's Peak, I __**am **__your headmaster. You will be taught here, just like you were taught at your other schools. Here, however, the only subject is despair."_

The suit-wearing boy in a coyote mask snarled. "The fuck do you mean, 'despair'?!"

_"__It is exactly as it sounds, heathen," _The dragon sighed deeply. Akina noticed a few embers coming out of its mouth. _"You will lose all hope and be consumed by dread."_

"In just a year?" Someone else asked. "We'll graduate eventually, and then your 'lessons' won't mean anything."

Monoryuu cocked his head at the naive student. _"Just a year? Who said you were staying here for 'just a year'? You'll be staying here for the rest of your lives, fools, although you weren't completely wrong about graduating."_

"R-Rest of our lives?"

"In a forest?!"

In the midst of this chatter, Akina raised her hand, waving frantically at their supposed headmaster. "Oh, oh, I have a question, headmaster sir! How do we 'graduate' then?"

The dragon peered at Akina with his other eye, a black dot on the white half of his face.

_"__Immerse yourself in your lessons," _he said._ "Embrace despair."_

Akina tilted her head to the side, confused as to what he meant. Monoryuu seemed to notice this and continued, closing his eyes.

_"__Kill someone here, and get away with it."_

The students stared, their minds slowly registering the dragon's words. For a moment, time seemed to pass silently.

And then a girl wearing a deer mask began to laugh.

"Ahahaha, kill someone? This dragon- this dragon's hilarious!"

No one else laughed with her, although Akina could see a few others smiling or grinning wickedly. The others were stunned into silence.

"C'mon guys," the girl said. "This has to be some kind of joke."

_"__Joke? This is certainly no 'joke' of mine," _The dragon snorted and shook his head. _"Honestly, I thought at least __**one **__of you would have recognized your location by now."_

"... Aokigahara," the crocodile boy muttered. "... Suicide Forest."

_"__So there's some knowledge in your class after all," _Monoryuu laughed. _"Hopefully he stays alive long enough to keep things interesting."_

"Hang on," a frog-veiled boy said. "How can you be so sure that we'll kill?"

_"__..." _Monoryuu remained silent for what felt like an eternity. _"I just am."_

"What kind of answer is that..?"

"..." Monoryuu ignored the murmured comment, instead undoing a satchel around his claw and tossing a small device about the size of a playing card to each of the students. Akina caught hers with ease and tapped on it, letting out a small noise of surprise when its screen flickered to life and showed a picture of a koi fish.

_Koi, _it read beneath the picture. Apparently she was a fish now, not a human being with a name and title.

On the back of the device was a barcode and a small clasp for anyone who wanted to keep it on their belt or bag.

_"__These are your ElectroIDs," _Monoryuu explained._ "They're pricey to replace, so try not to do anything stupid with them. They'll help you understand the basic concept here: rules, layout, and a little something for later. Now, does anyone have any __**sensible **__questions?"_

No one spoke. In fact, Akina noticed that a few students were already inching away from the group.

Monoryuu snorted. _"Good. Looks like you all understand what you're supposed to be doing." _He extended his wings. _"I'll be off for now, if no one has anymore questions or comments."_

"You'll never win." A girl in an otter mask said defiantly.

The dragon laughed. _"Silly girl," _he said as he ascended into the air, causing another gust of wind to hit the students. _"I already have."_

With that, the strange creature was gone, vanishing into the horizon of a treeline.

Akina turned to address the others, to at least get their _names_ from them- but they had already dispersed, not wanting to be near each other in the midst of a killing game.

She sighed to herself, nuzzling her face down into the white fabric of her scarf.


	4. Chapter I-I: Slip Away

_Author's Note: Hello, hello, hello everyone! _

_I found out that some of you submitted your characters into other stories! Oh no, reused characters? That won't do at all! For this reason, some of the students have been replaced. _

_Crocodile has been replaced by Tiger. Two more students were also replaced, but they hadn't been introduced yet!_

_Not to worry, everyone will play a role in the story at some point. Whether your character is a side character or a major part in the plot, you'll have to wait and see!_

_Akina and the others won't know about the replaced students. To them, Tiger has always been Tiger, and the other three just never existed._

_That being said, thank you for all of the wonderful reviews! Really! They're so motivating to read._

_I hope you enjoy!_

_-fatefulERA_

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><p><strong>Chapter I-I: Slip Away<strong>

For a place of capture, the camp certainly wasn't lacking in facilities.

Akina stood in the doorway of the storehouse, staring at the seemingly endless rows of food that filled the building. There was certainly enough to last them a few months, maybe even a year if they were careful.

She took a deep breath, relishing the rich scent of old wood and oils.

_Smells familiar..._

Her vaguely forming thoughts were interrupted by a clatter to her right. Akina instinctively flicked on the lights, hearing someone mutter something under their breath nearby.

A hispanic boy wearing a frog mask stood behind one of the shelves.

She stared for a while before greeting him.

"Hello."

"Hi," He tugged awkwardly on the rolled up sleeve of his white dress shirt. "Akina, right?"

She nodded, picking up the can by her foot and holding it out to him, smiling. "I think you dropped this."

He reached for it almost hesitantly.

"Sorry," he blurted just as his fingers reached the aluminum. "I didn't mean to scare you. I just wanted to sneak out without you noticing... I'm Rafael, by the way. The SHSL Memorizer."

Akina felt her ElectroID vibrate briefly in her pocket. When she took it out, a picture of a frog was on the screen, a few words beneath it.

**Information Updated: FROG - SHSL MEMORIZER**

"SHSL Memorizer?" Akina asked, before a look of realization crossed her face. She thumped her fist into her open hand. "Oh right, talents! I'm supposed to be the SHSL Theorist!"

_So names really don't mean anything to the system._

Rafael's ElectroID buzzed as he replied. "That's a neat talent. I'll be sure to remember that."

"Is that what you were doing?" Akina asked. "Memorizing everything in here?"

He nodded. "I figured that if we were going to be stuck here for a while, I might as well get to know the area. It's not so bad here, even if we _are _stuck here for the rest of our lives. We have food, shelter, company… we just have to look at the bright side of things, y'know?"

"Of course!" Akina said enthusiastically. "You're the first person I've talked to here. I'm sure there are others like us, who don't want to give in to this whole 'killing' thing."

Rafael smiled. "Would you like to check out the dining hall? I'm sure that there'll be some others there. Maybe we can talk to them and convince them that it's nothing to worry about?"

"There's a dining hall?"

"Yep," he said. "That's the first place I went. It's got a real homey feel to it. Everything's already set up for us."

"That's nice of them." Unsure where the dining hall was, Akina stepped out of the doorway and allowed Rafael to lead her, noting that the sun was now directly above the clearing, signalling noon.

"So," he said as they began to walk towards a lodge-like building a short distance away. "What does my mask look like? I've been curious ever since I saw everyone else's."

"Um…" Akina peered at him. His eyes were obscured by shadows, much to her dismay. "It's mostly red, with weird markings. The markings are kinda like dashes that go through your eyes, but they're black and really thick- like a flat tipped marker! If you're worried about your appearance, I think the red complements your vest… it's a shade darker though."

He laughed. "My appearance is the least of my worries right now, but thanks for that."

He turned his head to look at her. The two were roughly the same height, but Rafael was just a bit taller. "If you're curious, yours is white with red markings. Looks good on you."

"Thanks," she beamed. Akina loved red, if that wasn't already obvious from her china red jacket. "Yours looks good on you too!"

"I'm glad." He grinned as he pulled open the doors to the dining hall, gesturing for Akina to enter in a "ladies first" sort of motion. Akina nodded her head graciously and skipped inside, jumping in delight when she set her eyes fell upon the decorations of the room.

"Wow," she sighed, taking in the long rows of tables and formal dining sets. "Everything looks so _expensive_…"

Rafael walked over to one of the tables, running his hand along the white tablecloth. "It's nice, right?"

"What, you two've never seen a formal dining room before?" asked a snippy voice.

Sitting cross legged at another table was a girl with curly, pale green hair that fell just to her waist. Although her eyes were obscured by a red and white fox mask, she sneered at the two in a way that just screamed, _inferior scum. _Akina blinked, intrigued by the girl's confidence.

"Hello!" Akina waved frantically from where she stood. "I'm Akina! It's very nice to meet you, fox-lady!"

"Fufufufu…" The girl laughed softly, covering her mouth with her hand. "How amusing!"

Akina tilted her head to the side. "Amusing? What's amusing?"

"You!" she exclaimed. "Ah, I didn't think anyone so clueless existed in this world..."

Akina thought she heard the girl mutter something else under her breath, but didn't care enough to ask about it. Rafael protectively placed a hand on Akina's shoulder, smiling although his face showed a bit of ill-hidden concern.

His smile almost faltered as he spoke. "So, who are you?"

"Hm…" The girl placed a finger on her chin, tapping it in contemplation. "Oh, I know. Why don't you call me Fox?"

"Fox?" Akina asked. "But that isn't your real name, is it?"

"Akina…"

"Oh, so you have a brain after all!" Fox shook her head in mocking disapproval. She hopped off of the bench seat, tugging her red jacket into place before striding up to Akina and Rafael. "Akina, huh? That's a pretty name, it's too bad you're undeserving of it. Tell me, how does _'fishbait' _sound? Your mask is of a koi, after all."

"Fishbait..?"

Rafael stiffened. He tugged on Akina's jacket, herding the innocent theorist away from the girl.

"C'mon Akina," he said quietly. "Let's get out of here."

"But…"

"C'mon."

"Fufufufu… running away so soon?" Fox jeered. Still, she made no move to pursue them. "That's no fun."

Rafael said nothing as he ushered Akina through the doors to the kitchen, much to Akina's protest. Once inside, he leaned against a counter and sighed, closing his eyes in frustration.

"God," he said. "I can't stand people like her. How can anyone be so… _narcissistic_?"

"I'unno," Akina chimed, rocking on her heels. "She seemed like a pretty nice lady to me!"

Rafael stared blankly at Akina. "Are you- are you being sarcastic?"

"Of course not!" she huffed. "I mean, she said Akina was a pretty name!"

"She also said that you were undeserving of it and nicknamed you, 'fishbait'." Rafael pointed out.

"Still!" Akina protested. "I'm sure she's just one of those people that get nicer after you get to know them..! … maybe."

Rafael couldn't help but feel soothed by Akina's stubbornness.

"Am I…?" a voice asked hesitantly. "Am I interrupting something?"

Akina and Rafael both turned their heads in the direction of the voice.

That'd been the second person they'd missed today.

They really needed to start paying more attention to their surroundings.

A boy stood at the open door of the refrigerator, one hand holding a cup of convenience store coffee and another tilting up his brown fedora as he stared on, bashfully. He wore the mask of a songbird, the creamy pearl color of the mask contrasting against his brown utilitarian jacket.

"... not at all," Rafael said.

"Oh," The boy smiled, relaxing. "That's good."

He released his fedora, allowing it to rest flat on his head and tousle up his already unruly blonde hair. The slightest turn of his head signalled that he was now looking at Akina.

"You're Miss Akina, right?" he asked. "You must be brave, to share your name so readily like that! I'm Lucas Blixt, the SHSL Music Producer."

Akina felt her ElectroID buzz again.

**Information Updated: SONGBIRD - SHSL MUSIC PRODUCER**

"Ohh. Songbird. Music Producer. I get it!" Akina remarked. "I'm the SHSL Theorist, by the way."

Lucas jumped as his ElectroID vibrated in his jean pocket. Akina guessed that a lot of people were unaware of the reaction that came from hearing someone else's talent, with everyone sulking off on their own right after Monoryuu left.

"Rafael," Rafael introduced briefly, grinning. "SHSL Memorizer."

"Oh!" Lucas exclaimed as his ElectroID buzzed again. "Those are nice talents!"

He paused, eyes glancing around sheepishly. "Um… so… what do you two think about this whole… you know... killing thing? Was that too personal? I'm sorry… truly sorry… just forget I asked… again, I'm sorry..."

His voice trailed off as he continued to apologize profusely. Rafael laughed.

"It's fine!" he reassured. "If all of this is real, we'll be here for a while anyways… the camp isn't so bad."

"Yeah!" Akina agreed. "You should come explore with us, Lucas!"

"Really?" Lucas' face lit up with a wide smile. "Okay!"

He began to walk towards the doors to the dining hall, but Rafael quickly turned him around.

"There's an um… 'sleeping dragon' in there, per se," he explained. _Don't want to deal with __**her **__again. _"Let's go out the back door instead, alright?"

Lucas and Akina nodded, the three of them happily exiting the kitchen through the door in the back. Though Akina would never think to say it, she was happy that she'd made some new friends.

Maybe they'd make the road ahead easier.

Then again, maybe not.


	5. Chapter I-II: Afterthought

**Chapter I-II: Afterthought**

"... zero, zero, zero, zero, zero."

The boy in a white doctor's coat opened his mouth to ask what the other boy was doing.

"Oh, what am I doing?" The boy, wearing a sheep mask, shut his mouth again. The other boy answered before he could ask. "I'm counting the arrows in my not here quiver. If you wanna kill me and graduate, now would be the time!"

The sheep-masked boy stared. "Are you an archer?"

The other boy grinned. He wore the mask of a ferret, his hands wrapped in clean bandages.

"SHSL Archer, actually. The name's Ukita Kanausuku!"

The boy smiled back warmly, even as his ElectroID vibrated unexpectedly in the back pocket of his trousers. His job required him to be conditioned to the unexpected, after all.

"I'm Hiiro Inaba, the SHSL Doctor."

"Hiiro Inaba, huh..?" Ukita stared at him skeptically, then snapped his fingers. "I know! I'll call you Doc! It's much easier to remember!"

"Doc..?"

"Y'know, like doctor? That coat of yours is a pretty good reminder!"

Hiiro smiled ruefully. Memories, both good and bad, were intertwined with his area of work. _If it hadn't been for that day… _

Ukita waved his hand vaguely in front of Hiiro's face. "Something wrong, Doc?"

"Sorry, I…" He hesitated. "... it's nothing."

Ukita shrugged. "Well alright dude, whatever you say. Say, wanna go check out the cabins with me? Our rooms are supposed to be personalized or something like that, right? Maybe I can find some arrows and my bow!"

Hiiro nodded compliantly. What harm could it do, anyways?

"Sweet!" Ukita exclaimed. "I really hope that wasn't just a thing on the invitation… it'd suck if all of our cabins were the same. I'd paint my walls a nice shade of light blue… periwinkle, even. I might ask that dragon for some paint later!"

"Well we _are _being held captive here…"

"That's true," Ukita agreed. "Hey, it's worth a try."

And with that, the two boys set off for the cabins on the edge of the clearing.

* * *

><p><em>"<em>_Write lots, okay?" a cheerful voice asked. His younger sister._

_"__Hmph," an older girl, about the same age as him, crossed her arms in a disinterested fashion. "Just fuck off and go to your dumbass school already. No one here will miss you anyways."_

_"__Yuuki!" his younger sister exclaimed. "That's not true — I'll miss him lots!"_

_He smiled. "I'll miss you too, Hikari. Alright, I gotta go. I love you both, alright?"_

_His younger sister ran up and threw her arms around his waist. His other sister said nothing._

_"__Have fun, big brother!"_

The coyote-masked boy was now standing by the firepit, his hands jammed into the pockets of his suit pants, his scarlet tie surging in the wind. He sighed, wondering what his two sisters were up to, now that he was gone.

"Hello, hello, hello there!" An unusually cheerful voice called from behind him.

Walking towards him was a koi-masked girl, dressed strikingly in a white blouse and red jacket, and waving happily. The boy recognized her as the girl who had introduced herself to everyone in the clearing earlier.

_Shit, what was her name again?_

Behind her were two others — the two presumably labelled, "Frog" and "Songbird". They all looked to be around the same age as him, though the girl was definitely younger.

"What?" He eyed her warily. "Uh… hi."

She smiled. "Hey. What's your name?"

"Me? I'm Ichiro Mizushima, the uh, fuckin'..." He snapped his fingers. "Shark! Right, SHSL Shark."

**Information Updated: COYOTE - SHSL SHARK**

The girl blinked. Ichiro thought he heard a few things buzz nearby. "... but you're a coyote! Coyotes aren't sharks! … I think."

"No, not like, not like _shark, _shark. Like, poker player," He glanced away. "You know what I'm trying to say."

"Oh! I get it!" she exclaimed. She stuck her hand out to him. "I'm Akina, the SHSL Theorist!"

He yelled as his ElectroID suddenly vibrated in his pocket. _The fuck is this..? _Nonetheless, he took her hand and shook it firmly, coughing in an attempt to cover up his outburst.

"So, uh, you guys gonna jump me now or something?"

Lucas tilted his head to the side, his blonde hair falling over his ears. "Of course not! Why would we do that?"

"It's three versus one right now…" Ichiro muttered. He suddenly snapped his head up. "I-I mean, it's not like I couldn't take you all on! Don't fuck with me, alright?"

"Don't worry, we wouldn't try," Rafael said. "Rafael, by the way. SHSL Memorizer."

"Lucas Blixt, SHSL Music Producer," Lucas smiled. "I… sorry, I didn't mean to butt in… sorry…"

Akina laughed. "Lucas, stop apologizing!"

"Sorry… wait, no, I mean —!"

Ichigo chuckled. The three were an interesting crowd, that much was certain.

Rafael turned to Ichigo. "So, you wanna come look around with us?"

"Uh…" Ichigo paused. "Sure, why not."

Akina beamed, spinning on her heel in a gracious twirl. "Yay! There's four of us now, so only like… fifteen more to go!"

"Fourteen if you count 'Fox', or whatever her real name is." Rafael pointed out.

"Wouldn't it be faster if we split up?" Lucas asked.

"Pairs, then?"

Akina nodded. "Who does everyone want to go with?"

"I'll go with anyone." Lucas said timidly.

"Doesn't fuckin' matter to me."

Akina hummed. Everyone here seemed so unopinionated, compliant. How were they ever going to make decisions?

"Then," she said decidedly. "I'll go with Rafael, if that's okay?"

"I have no complaints." Rafael said.

Ichiro cracked his knuckles absentmindedly. "It's settled then," He looked at Lucas. "Yo, bird-boy, you wanna go to the cabins?"

"O-Oh… sure..!"

"No point in standing around then. C'mon, let's go."

Immediately turning around, Ichiro began walking towards the cabins that bordered the treeline, his hands still stuffed in his pockets. Lucas followed after him, giving Akina and Rafael a shy, half-hearted wave as he departed. Akina looked to Rafael for their next move.

"Where do you wanna go?" she asked.

"Hm…" Rafael tapped on his forehead with his right index finger, eyes narrowed in thought. "If I remember correctly, I think I heard running water when I first woke up. There might be a stream or something in the forest. Wanna go take a look?"

"Okay!" Akina surveyed what she could see of the camp. It didn't look like anyone else was around, anyways.

Rafael smiled and began walking towards the forest, in the opposite direction that Lucas and Ichiro had gone.

"This way," he said, as Akina skipped to catch up with him. "It shouldn't be too far off. Just across the clearing here."

"Rafael…"

He turned his head to look at her. "Huh, what is it?"

Akina had stopped walking — just a few steps after she had caught up to him — and now squinted at something in the distance. It was just barely visible amongst the tall grass that covered the clearing and came up to Akina's knees.

"I think…" she began. "I think there's something out there."

Rafael stopped walking. He turned to look in the direction that Akina was facing, seeing the strange object. It was black, and roundish.

"I think you're right… c'mon!" he yelled before running towards the thing in the grass. Akina followed after him, leaping over random tufts of grass whenever she saw it fit to do so.

"What the..!"

She almost crashed into Rafael when he suddenly stopped, getting a close up view of what they'd seen from afar.

A black-haired boy laid face down in the grass, dressed in a obsidian suit with a purple dress shirt underneath. He was notably shorter than Akina and Rafael — about half a head shorter than the two of them and a full head shorter than Ichiro. On his face was the mask of a panda.

"Hey," Rafael knelt down, roughly shaking the boy's shoulders. "Hey, are you alright?"

The boy didn't stir. Akina knelt down on the other side of him, poking and prodding at his sides with a stick.

"Is he dead?" she asked.

"I don't think so," Rafael placed two fingers on the boy's neck. "No — no, he definitely has a pulse. He's breathing, too. Do you think he passed out here?"

Akina studied the boy's position. She stood up, looking at the place in the clearing where they gathered to meet Monoryuu, then knelt down again. She poked the unconscious boy's cheek, giggling as his nose twitched.

"He fell asleep!" she exclaimed.

Rafael looked up at her incredulously. "What, really? Here?"

"Mhm!" She nodded confidently, getting back onto her feet. "He probably has a condition or something! That's my theory, anyways."

"A theory from the SHSL Theorist huh…" Rafael murmured. He swooped the smaller boy up in his arms, glancing up at the just barely setting sun. "I don't think it's safe to leave him here, unconscious like this. I'm going to take him back to his cabin. Will you be alright on your own, Akina?"

Akina nodded.

"Alright," Rafael said. "I'll see you later then."

Akina watched as Rafael headed off towards the cabins. By now, Lucas and Ichiro were out of sight, although Rafael would probably run into them once he reached his destination.

She turned to gaze at the edge of the forest.

_Rafael's the SHSL Memorizer, _she thought. _There's no way he's wrong. I'll find the stream on my own, and tell him about it later!_

And so, the naive little theorist wandered into the untamed forest, searching for the stream and oblivious to the setting sun.

* * *

><p><em>Somewhere Else:<em>

"I simply _love _this!" a girl exclaimed in a sultry voice. "We should _definitely _do this more often."

Another girl glanced at her in disinterest. The room was dim and barely lit, save for the red lights that glowed faintly from some unknown source.

"Be patient," she chided gently. "We'll be able to do this as many times as we want. Just sit back and enjoy the show."

"Hm… they're a bit _young _for my tastes though. Have you noticed yet..?"

The second girl nodded, resulting in a cackle from the first.

"It can't be helped." the first said.

"Red…" a third girl murmured. "So much red…"

The other two didn't respond to her murmurs, allowing a stiff silence to fall upon the room.

* * *

><p><em>Aokigahara:<em>

In the dwindling light, Akina nimbly made her way through the untamed thicket of the forest.

_I just have to listen for water, right..? But… I don't hear anything... _

Now that she thought about it, the forest really _was _eerily quiet. Not a single bird chirped, nor did a frog croak, or a grasshopper cry. There was an occasional rustling, but that was a result of the wind, not a living being.

Or so Akina thought.

Her scarf caught on a stray branch and Akina stumbled, barely managing to catch herself before she hit the dense roots on the ground. That was what made the terrain so difficult to traverse — the endless tangle of roots that wove through each other as if nature had intended for them to merge into one.

She huffed, plucking the end of her snow white scarf off of the prickly branch that had snagged it. Something rustled in the bushes nearby, but Akina thought nothing of it, attributing the noise to the wind that never seemed to stop.

She continued to hop from root to root, enveloping herself in a game to test her balance.

_Thirty three… thirty four… thirty fi — kyaa!_

The heel of her boot slipped off of the thirty fifth root, forcing her to fall backwards onto her other foot to steady herself. Still, that had been her longest streak yet.

"New record!" she chimed to herself, smiling triumphantly.

"Congratulations..!"

A sly, but chipper voice came from behind her. Alarmed by the sudden presence, Akina whirled around. "Who..?"

"Chehehehe…"

The snake masked boy stood just a few feet behind her, the same unnerving smile on his face from when Akina had seen him in the clearing. In one hand, he twirled a clear glass test tube, no doubt taken from the pocket of his white labcoat which contained similar items. A pair of clear blue goggles hung around his neck.

"Oh!" Akina exclaimed. She suddenly realized that his laugh made her uncharacteristically unsettled. "It's you!"

He snickered softly, causing a chill to run down Akina's spine. "Why yes…" he mused. "It's me, indeed. Tell me, what is a fine lady like you doing out in the woods so late in the day?"

"I heard there was a stream… I want to find it."

"A stream, huh..?" The boy flicked his hand to his right. His head tilted up just enough for Akina to see under his mask and see that his eyes were squinted into paper-thin slivers — one could even think that they were closed.

"That way." he said simply, his white hair threatening to fall over his face.

"O-Oh..." Akina stumbled, slowly walking in the direction that the boy pointed. "Thanks!"

"Chehehehe… take care now, little fish."

"You too..!"

Right as she was about to leave his sights, Akina abruptly turned around. The boy glanced at her curiously, wondering why she had stopped.

"Hey!" she called back to him. "What's your name?"

The boy considered her question, taking a moment to think before answering.

"Jun Kurosawa," he said. "The SHSL Chemist, if you couldn't tell!"

**Information Updated: SNAKE - SHSL CHEMIST**

"I'm Akina!" She shouted as she turned around and ran off again. "Thanks for the help, Jun!"

Jun's wicked smile didn't change as he watched her back vanish behind a dense patch of trees. When she disappeared entirely, he turned around, placing his test tube back into the pocket of his labcoat before leisurely walking in the direction of the camp.

"Anytime, my lovely theorist."

* * *

><p>After a few minutes of running through the foliage, Akina arrived at the stream, breathless but ecstatic.<p>

The brook was not quite as large as a river, but easily a few meters across and required some waist-level wading to get through. Smooth pebbles and stones lined the banks, devoid of the plant life that seemed to overtake every other part of the forest.

Akina peered down into the crystal clear waters. She wanted to see fish — a few dragonflies, at least. Unfortunately for her, the area lacked any wildlife whatsoever.

The segment where Akina stood stretched far into the distance. Upstream from her were a few small waterfalls, large rocks parting the water and revealing the ash-colored rock that served as the foundation for the river.

Akina turned her head to the left, glancing downstream, and gasped.

It was there, but only briefly. A mirage — a flicker in reality.

A body was caught on the rocks. A girl with black hair, a white scarf, and a china red jacket.

For a moment, Akina stood in stunned silence, staring wide-eyed at the corpse as it bobbed against the boulder, pushed by the constant flow of the water.

She breathed, and then the body was gone again.


	6. Chapter I-III: Lilac

_Author's Note: Sorry for the delay, everyone. This is my longest chapter yet! -fatefulERA_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter I-III: Lilac<strong>

"He's got narcolepsy." Hiiro explained, gesturing for Rafael to place the unconscious boy on the bed of the cabin.

"Narco-what, Doc?" Ukita asked as he stepped inside.

"Narcolepsy," Hiiro repeated. "Basically, it's a condition that makes it easy for him to fall into deep periods of sleep."

"So he does have a condition..." Rafael murmured. "Akina was right..."

"Akina?" Hiiro raised an eyebrow. "Ah right, that koi-girl from earlier."

Ichiro stared out of the cabin window, gazing into the darkness outside. It was night by now and the students' explorations had temporarily ceased, the clearing falling silent as a result.

The poker shark turned to Rafael, a bit of questionable concern clear in his tone. "Hey, uh… wasn't she supposed to be with you?"

"She said she'd be alright on her own," Rafael replied. "... I hope she was telling the truth."

"Should we go look for her?" Lucas offered.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea," Ukita paced around the room. "Even with my eyesight—and trust me, my eyesight's pretty good, being an archer and all—I won't be able to find her in the dark like this."

"Fuck. She's lost, isn't she?" Ichiro ran a hand through his combed brown hair.

"She might have gone back to her own cabin," Hiiro proposed. "This is my cabin, after all. I don't think she'd know to come here."

"Ah… shouldn't we check just in case?" Lucas asked shyly. "I mean, it's better to be safe than sorry, right..?"

"Agreed!" Ukita shouted, causing the virtuoso to jump. "Besides, it seems these cabins aren't personalized anyways, so I got nothin' to gain here. Alright birdy, lead the way!"

"Wh-What? I don't know where her cabin is!"

"Huh? You don't?" Ukita scratched his head. His brown hair was tied into a ponytail that fell to his waist. "Dang. I thought you'd know for sure."

"It shouldn't be too hard to find…" Hiiro glanced down at the panda-masked boy asleep on the bed. _Damn, I wish this place had a medical center._

He sighed. "I'm going to stay here and see what I can do for him. Be careful, alright?"

"Will do, Doc!" Ukita called as he opened the door. Apparently one could always leave from the inside, regardless of whether the door was locked or not.

_At least we have a doctor here, _Rafael thought. He looked to Hiiro. "We'll be back soon."

The doctor nodded sagely, settling down in a wooden chair in the corner of the room and watching as the other four boys departed into the dark campground outside.

* * *

><p>Akina winced as her hand batted into a thorny bush, pricking her delicate skin. She mewled miserably. Why had she stayed out so late? The forest was entirely dark now, a daunting pathway of roots and thicket. It had been hard enough walking through when the sun was still up. Now, it was just impossible.<p>

In a last, desperate attempt to gain some guidance, she called out into the desolate forest.

"Jun? Anyone?"

Nothing.

She pressed forward, feeling another thorn cut across her left cheek. The woodland was filled with patches of thorny bushes like these, winding up the trunks of trees and dangling from their branches like barbed wire. She winced, but kept moving. At least she was past that bit now.

She felt the terrain change beneath her feet—dirt and pebbles, no longer grass and thick roots. _Oh, _she realized, smiling in relief. _I'm almost back! _

She had encountered an area like this on her way to the stream. It was a thin strip of dirt and pebbles hadn't been covered in greenery, for a lack of water, sunlight, or other reasons.

Her thoughts went back to what she had seen in the water. The body's petite stature… shoulder length black hair… it was undoubtedly… _her own body. _

Perhaps she had hallucinated, she decided. The day had been a stressful one, after all, and the "body" had only been there for a mere second.

Just as her mind began to consider the possible causes for hallucination, she felt the ground slip out from underneath her. No, that wasn't quite the right way to describe it. She had tried to step forward, and her foot had met empty air. Her body tumbled forward, panic coursing through her veins as she realized that she had walked right off of one of the forest's steep cliffs.

A firm arm wrapped itself around Akina's waist, jerking her backwards and forcing the air out of her lungs. Much, _much _lower, she faintly heard a few pebbles hit the ground. Her lips parted, gasping for breath as the person pulled her back onto solid ground.

"You okay?" a man's voice asked.

"Yeah…" Akina breathed, her breath forming small clouds in the chilly night air. "Yeah… thanks."

She turned her head to meet the salamander mask of a broad shouldered young man. A small patch of facial hair on his chin brushed against her cheek, his hair loose and tickling her ears.

"Careless," he muttered almost inaudibly. He stepped back again, just to be safe, and released her from his grasp. Akina could hear him bending down to pick up a small rock and tossing it off of the unseen cliffside.

It hit the ground a few seconds later.

"Easily a few hundred feet," he said. Akina felt his hand grab onto her wrist tightly, like a mother who didn't want to lose her child in the crowd. "Come. You aren't safe out here."

He walked back in the direction that she had come from. Akina silently complied, following after him as best she could. How he could navigate so well in the darkness, she didn't know.

"Um," she spoke quietly, stumbling over a small rock. "Aren't we going away from the camp..?"

"We are," she heard him answer. A branch snapped with unnatural loudness.

She faltered again, but this time she felt him jerk her close to him. The next thing she knew, she was on his back, her arms clasped in front of his chest.

He didn't say a word, nor did she. She was too tired to argue.

He moved through the forest with ease, traversing it as though it were normal terrain. Not once during the journey did Akina hear him grunt or feel him trip. He ducked under branches and hopped over gaps in the roots, seemingly unaffected by her weight.

_Where are we going…? _Akina wondered, resting her weary head against his shoulder. She felt the muscles in his neck stiffen as he turned to glance at her, but didn't hear him say anything. _He must spend a lot of time in the forest… he's so strong… or maybe I'm just light?_

After a while, her eyes opened to see a small flickering in the distance. The boy was walking straight towards it.

"A fire…?" she murmured sleepily, rubbing her eyes. He nodded.

The fire was in the middle of a clearing, incomparable in size to the clearing where the camp was. It was only a few meters wide, but it was enough to keep the fire from spreading to any foliage around them. The boy sat Akina down on a tree stump, taking a seat across from her on a fallen tree that had been stripped of its branches.

Akina snuck a peek at the boy, now that they were in the light of the fire. He was watching her intently, wearing a plain green t-shirt and some loose gray cargo pants.

His mask was that of a salamander's—red and lively, with dark shadows for eyes.

"Ah…" she began. "How did you find me?"

"You weren't exactly being quiet."

"But… you caught me."

"I did what I had to." He continued to study her. When he spoke, Akina could tell that he was holding back contempt. "... why did you stay out so late?"

Akina scratched her cheek. "I was… looking for something."

The boy muttered something under his breath, shaking his head. "This forest is dangerous," he said. "You should stick with the others. Stay back at camp, where it's safe."

Akina stared. "But then… why are you out here, all on your own?"

The boy turned away, gazing into the small fire.

"I'm more suited to nature," he answered at last. He looked up to meet Akina's eyes—no, her mask—and gave a small smile. "The name's Robert Handle. SHSL Survivalist."

**Information Updated: SALAMANDER - SHSL SURVIVALIST**

_So that's how he made the fire. _Akina smiled back at him. She saw the corner of his lips twitch ever so slightly, and paused.

"You don't need to smile for me," she said as nonchalantly as she could.

Robert's expression persisted for a moment before faltering, and then gradually vanishing. He leaned forward on the tree trunk, perplexed.

"Who says I'm smiling for you?"

"You can see it in the way your lips move," Akina said. "You're forcing them to curl."

He let out a small grunt of annoyance. "Am I?" _Damn, she's more intelligent than I thought._

"You are!" She abruptly lowered her voice, realizing how loud she had shouted. "I'm Akina Hiroyuki, by the way. I got invited to be the SHSL Theorist."

Robert's ElectroID buzzed, causing the survivalist to stiffen. When he reached to take it out of his pocket, something else fell out along with it.

Akina pointed at the small leather object in the dirt. "What's that?"

Robert looked at where she was pointing, realizing, then leaned down and picked up the object. He held it up to his face, staring at it in silence.

"... just my wallet," he answered, placing it back into his pocket. When Akina didn't press further, he continued. "So, the SHSL Theorist managed to walk right off a cliff?"

Akina flushed. She hoped that he couldn't see it under her mask and the orange glow of the fire.

"I can only form theories off of the knowledge I have," she explained sheepishly. "I don't know much about navigation, or this terrain, so…"

"Fair enough," Robert replied.

"What about you?" Akina asked. "You were walking in the dark so easily. It was amazing."

"Survivalist, remember?"

"Still…" Her voice trailed off.

Robert averted his gaze, debating internally with himself although Akina couldn't tell. After a while, he sighed quietly and faced her.

"I've traveled to many places," he began. "But not places you'd expect, like cities or countries. No, I mean places like the Sahara, and the Alps. You've probably never seen either of them before, have you?"

Akina shook her head. Robert took this as a signal to continue.

"There aren't any light switches out there, you know. By nighttime, you either have a fire or make do with what you got." He gazed at the fire, watching as it batted away the darkness that threatened to surround them. "Darkness is one of the first things you get used to. Our eyes gradually adjust as it gets darker, allowing us to see when it's almost pitch black. That's the way our bodies were made to work."

"Huh..? But I still tripped over every little thing!"

He sighed. "I hate to tell you this, friend, but that's because you didn't know how to get around it in the first place."

"Oh." Akina puffed. Her eyes were begging to close. "I thought I was pretty good at it…"

"Are you tired?" Robert asked, noticing the lull in her voice.

"Just a little…"

He watched her, apathetically, for a little while. Then, when her body began to lean to the side, he walked over and sat down next to her on the large tree stump. Akina relaxed her tiny frame against his body, fighting to keep her eyes open.

"Sleep," he said.

"What about you…?"

"I'll keep watch."

She gazed up at him with half-lidded eyes. "Keep watch for what…?"

He frowned. "This is a killing game. You can never be too careful."

"Oh… right." Akina's eyes fluttered closed. "Wake me up after a while… we can take shifts…"

"Will do."

The young theorist finally allowed her mind to rest, Robert's presence and the comforting heat of the flames willing her into a sound sleep.

* * *

><p>"Uhh, guys?" Ukita asked, pressing up against the window of Akina's cabin. "Preeeeeeetty sure she's not in there."<p>

The four boys stood in the dark pathways of the cabin area in the camp. Dim light flooded out from the windows of various cabins, but the cabins were so spread out that almost no light reached the area around Akina's.

"She must still be in the forest…" Rafael murmured.

Lucas shivered, pulling his brown utilitarian jacket tighter around himself. "Do you think she's lost?"

"Or dead." Ichiro muttered gruffly. The others stared at him in bewilderment. "What, you don't think it's fucking possible?!"

"Look, let's not—" Rafael swallowed. "Let's not jump to that possibility right now. She's probably fine."

Ukita stretched his arms over his head. "Yeah dude. I mean there's like, twenty of us or something, right? Maybe she met up with someone else."

"I hope that's what happened…" Lucas said quietly. His eyes shifted around warily. He hated the dark—no, he _feared _it.

Ichigo jammed his hands into his pockets. "Let's just go back to our fucking cabins. We can look for her in the morning, if she still isn't back."

The three were silent, considering his suggestion. It was likely that the missing girl would return by morning. At best, she'd be perfectly fine, and she'd have a story to tell too.

Then again, at worst, she'd be dead.

_She's fine, _Rafael reassured himself. Lucas looked at him, apprehension evident in the curve of his lips.

"I'll go tell Doc, then." Ukita said. "See you guys in the morning?"

"Yeah." Rafael exhaled. "Goodnight, everyone."

Ichiro nodded promptly, then turned his back and stalked off towards his cabin. Ukita smiled in parting before doing the same, only heading towards Hiiro's cabin to inform the doctor of Akina's disappearance.

"Ah… goodnight, Rafael." Lucas said hushedly. The music producer then took off towards his own cabin at a pace that seemed a bit too quick to be rational.

Now alone, Rafael glanced back at Akina's empty cabin one last time before walking to his own residence, certain that he would find her in the morning.

* * *

><p><em>Aokigahara Forest — Dawn<em>

Akina awoke to, unsurprisingly, silence. She rubbed her eyes sleepily, just barely recalling the events from the previous day.

"Robert…?" she called softly, noting that the small camp was now deserted. The fire had burnt out, and the sun was rising into the sky, just barely visible above the high treeline.

_He was supposed to wake me up…! _Akina bit down angrily on the inside of her cheek. She stood up, brushing off her skirt and stretching out her tired limbs. _Did he even sleep at all?_

She tried again, a bit louder this time. "Robert?"

Still, no response. Akina approached the edge of the tiny patch of clearing, searching for any signs of the survivalist. An arrow made out of broken branches pointed her in the direction of the camp.

_Oh, I see! _Akina realized. _He must have gone back while I was asleep._

Not wanting any forest fires, Akina made sure the fire was entirely put out before heading off towards the camp.

* * *

><p>When she had almost reached the clearing, Akina was surprised to hear two girls chatting away at the edge of the forest.<p>

"—and she said, 'the only yellow people I trust are the Simpsons!'"

Both girls laughed, one more hysterically than the other. Akina recognized the voice of the speaker as the girl who wore an otter mask. Hopping over a stray weed, the theorist snuck up closer to the two, wanting to get a better look at them.

Standing there in the tall grass was, in-fact, the otter girl. She sported a short black dress, and her honey blonde hair was styled back into two buns, tied by ribbons. Beside her stood the deer-masked girl who had laughed at Monoryuu yesterday. Consistent with her animal mask, this girl's appearance was far more laid back: a blue sweater and matching beanie, her pink ahoge poking out of the top.

"Jeez," the deer-masked girl chuckled gently. "I didn't know you were so racist!"

The first girl scoffed. "Please! Racial stereotypes and familial issues are my specialty!"

Akina watched the two with innocent curiosity. _Racial stereotypes…?_

"So, you said you're Italian?"

"Born and raised," the otter-veiled girl said. "I'm proud to be one, too!"

The calmer girl smiled. "That's nice. I'm Japanese, myself."

"Oh, yeah! Don't they call you 'the queen of the court' or something here?"

She nodded. "I'm the SHSL Attorney, after all."

**Information Updated: DEER - SHSL ATTORNEY**

The buzzing from Akina's back pocket soon alerted the two of their little observer, and Akina jumped, only rustling the bushes further. The two girls frowned, the girl with an otter mask flaring and stomping over to Akina's hiding spot.

Akina waved at her sheepishly, crouched down behind a large tree. "Hello!"

"Ciao," the otter-girl stated curtly. "And you are?"

The attorney sauntered over next to them, lazily rubbing the back of her head and disturbing her pink hair. She glanced down at Akina, revealing her light blue eyes to the theorist. "Hm… Akina, right? I remember you from the meeting earlier."

"You do?"

She nodded. "Though, with a personality like that, I'm surprised that you're hiding over here watching us. Why didn't you come out and say hi?"

"Maybe she's a pervert or something?" the other girl suggested.

"That's not it at all!" Akina huffed. "I just heard you two talking from a distance and didn't want to interrupt."

"What kind of logic is that…?!"

"Well, whatever." The attorney extended a hand down to Akina. "I'm Micho Auruka. Attorney at law. It's nice to meet you, Akina."

"It's nice to meet you too!" Akina smiled as the girl pulled her up.

"I'm Angioletta Ferrari," the other girl said with a grin. "SHSL Comedian!"

**Information Updated: OTTER - SHSL COMEDIAN**

"Is racism really your specialty?"

"Well, I can work with almost anything, really," Angioletta replied. "but it's how I started off, and if it ain't broke, don't fix it!"

Micho sighed. "That's a potential court case right there."

Angioletta smirked. "You do what you need to to survive."

_Survive…?_ Akina gasped in realization. "I need to find someone! I'll talk to you two later, bye!"

Without another word, she ran off full speed towards the campgrounds. Angioletta and Micho exchanged skeptical glances.

"How strange." Micho commented.

"Isn't she?" Angioletta laughed. "She'll make great material!"

* * *

><p>Hiiro yawned, stepping outside of the cabin to get some fresh air. The panda-masked boy <em>still <em>hadn't woken up, and the doctor was beginning to question just how severe his condition was. In the distance, he thought he saw a girl running right towards his cabin.

_What is she doing…?_

He realized quickly that she wasn't running towards his cabin, but past it, and into the camp. She was wearing a koi mask, a white scarf, and a bright red jacket over a blouse. Somehow, he felt like he needed to speak with her…

Wait, wasn't that—

"Hey!" he called as she dashed past him. "Aren't you—"

"Sorry! I can't talk right now!"

And just like that, the girl was gone again, running into the central campgrounds. Hiiro sighed, scratching the back of his head in defeat. _Jeez, what is she so rushed about…?_

* * *

><p>Akina burst through the doors of the dining hall to see Rafael, Lucas, Ichiro, Robert, and almost all of the other students gathered together eating breakfast.<p>

"Akina!" Rafael exclaimed, chewing on some pancakes.

Lucas almost spat out his coffee. "Miss Akina!"

"Fish girl?" Ichiro questioned.

Akina was equally surprised to see all of them there. "Robert?"

"You two know each other?" Rafael asked.

"Oh good," Robert said, taking another bite of eggs and swallowing before answering. "So you didn't get lost after all."

"That was mean!" Akina exclaimed. "I thought you fell off of a cliff or something!"

"I think you're more likely to do that."

Akina's cheeks turned red. Somewhat poutingly, she sat down at an empty seat in between Lucas and a girl wearing a hummingbird mask.

"Here!" the girl next to her exclaimed, passing her a plate of food once she had seated herself. "We made a lot earlier. You must be hungry! Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot to introduce myself! Rina Kimura, SHSL Pilot at your service!"

**Information Updated: HUMMINGBIRD - SHSL PILOT**

_She talks so fast! _Akina stared down at the food on her plate. "Wow…" she remarked. "This all looks so good!"

"Doesn't it?" Rina beamed.

"Miss Rina made it all on her own this morning." Lucas said. "She's an excellent cook."

"What? Really?" Akina turned to the pilot. "That's amazing!"

"Oi, Akina," Ichiro called from further down the table. "Where the fuck were you anyway? We were lookin' all over the fuckin' place for you."

Akina scratched her cheek. "I was in the forest… with Robert."

A peacock-masked boy sitting nearby parted his lips in delight. His mask was decorated with exquisite green and blue feathers, contrasting his honey colored hair which was combed and reached halfway down his neck.

"Oh my, how romantic!" he marveled. "Did you two have some _fun_?"

"Hideo!" someone hissed.

The boy chuckled softly. "Just kidding~ I'm Hideo Nanpa, the SHSL Romantic. It's nice to finally meet you, Miss Akina."

**Information Updated: PEACOCK - SHSL ROMANTIC**

Akina's ElectroID buzzed loudly against the wooden frame of her chair. Becoming slightly annoyed, Akina reached into her back pocket and placed the device on the white tablecloth instead. She noticed the girl sitting across the table watching her carefully, eyes hidden behind an owl mask and her black hood drawn over her head as the others went back to chatting amongst themselves.

"That's bothering you, isn't it?" the girl asked quietly. She reached across the table, presenting her open hand to Akina. "Give it here."

Akina reluctantly complied, placing her ElectroID into the enigmatic girl's hand. The girl took it and fiddled with it for a bit, hitting strange combinations of buttons and rebooting the high-tech device several times. The device whirred in protest as she manipulated it. After another minute or so, she set it down and slid it back across the table to Akina.

"There," she said. "Now it won't vibrate anymore when you make an introduction."

"Really?" Akina asked. The girl nodded. "Thanks! Are you an, um… programmer?"

The girl shook her head, dirty blonde hair and sideswept bangs falling just past her chin. "My name is Kasumi Inoue. I'm the SHSL Psychoanalyst."

True to Kasumi's words, Akina's ElectroID didn't buzz. Still, a small graphic of an owl popped up with text written beneath it:

**Information Updated: OWL - SHSL PSYCHOANALYST**

"Psycho… analyst?"

Kasumi averted her gaze, slipping her headphones back over her ears. "It's just my talent... you're the SHSL Theorist, aren't you?"

Akina nodded, then paused. "How did you know that?"

The owl-masked girl opened her mouth to answer, but just then, the doors to the dining hall opened again.

Akina turned to look at the door, a brief moment passing before she realized who it was. "Oh, it's you!"

In the doorway was the doctor with a sheep mask, the panda-masked boy finally awake and standing next to him. The doctor smiled warmly at Akina.

"It's good to see that you're safe," he said, taking a seat. Akina saw the other boy take a seat farther down. "I can finally introduce myself properly. I'm Hiiro Inaba, the SHSL Doctor."

**Information Updated: SHEEP - SHSL DOCTOR**

"Introduce yourself properly?" Akina questioned. "Oh! Were you looking for me yesterday too?"

He shook his head. "Ukita and the others were doing that."

"Ukita?"

"That'd be me!" someone called from the end of the table. The ferret-masked boy waved with a bandaged hand. "Yo! I'm Ukita Kanausuku, SHSL Archer."

**Information Updated: FERRET - SHSL ARCHER**

Akina saw his hands and frowned. "What happened to your hands?"

"Nothing really. They're fine, the bandages are just to protect my hands during training."

"Now that I think about it," Rafael said. "If I recall correctly, you won the national archery championship last year, didn't you?"

"Sure did." Ukita grinned, tossing his ponytail behind him so that he could eat. "Besides, if you wanna talk about bandages, just look at bandage-boy over there!"

The boy in question had bandages covering his neck and short, wavy white hair, his face hidden behind an eggshell-colored mouse mask. He wore a black armband on each of his wrists, though underneath those, Akina could see even more bandages.

Her blatant stares caught the boy's attention, and he addressed her.

"He-Hello there. I'm Apus Larkspur, the SHSL Bomber."

**Information Updated: MOUSE - SHSL BOMBER**

"Your neck and wrists…"

"Oh, these?" Apus laughed, though he failed to mask the apprehension in his voice. "They're nothing, really."

"Liar." Akina heard Kasumi mutter.

"So," he continued, not having heard Kasumi's comment. "You're Akina, the SHSL Theorist? Ah, your talent's much better than mine."

"That's not true! All I do is think… 'Bomber' sounds much cooler!"

"It's not something you really want to be known for." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, grinning at Akina before another person took his attention away.

Akina looked at the panda-masked boy sitting a few seats down from Apus, who was now chatting away with a girl wearing a parakeet mask and a pink polka dotted headband. Not wanting to interrupt the two of them, she turned back to Hiiro.

"What happened to him, anyways? The boy in a panda mask?"

"He's got narcolepsy," Hiiro replied, pouring himself a hot cup of coffee. "It makes it easy for him to fall asleep, especially in relaxing conditions like this forest. Speaking of which, I heard from Rafael that you predicted such a thing?"

"It was just a theory!"

"Coming from the SHSL Theorist, I'd say that your theories deserve to be called more than 'just theories'. Have you ever considered taking up a career in the medical field? I think you'd be excellent at diagnosing patients."

Akina nuzzled her scarf with a soft sigh. "I don't think I'd be any good at that. I mean, what would I do if one of my patients died because I got their diagnosis wrong?"

Hiiro took a long sip of his coffee before answering. He liked coffee. The warmth it gave was comforting, a difference from a work environment haunted by the chill of death.

"Sometimes you just have to accept that it isn't your fault."

Everyone's ElectroIDs suddenly crackled to life, white noise emitting from the speakers and overriding all conversation.

Akina gaped down at her ElectroID, eyes scanning the words on the screen. _It's a communication device too…?_

_Connected: Monoryuu_

_Please stand by for further instructions._

"What the hell is this?!" someone shouted.

"Monoryuu…?"

_"__Good morning, students." _The noise subsided as Monoryuu's gruff voice came through the speakers. There was a pause, then a thud outside in the clearing. The dining hall shook with the force of the impact, causing several students to grab onto the table to steady themselves.

_"__You have thirty minutes to get to the main clearing," _Monoryuu continued._ "Anyone not present thirty minutes from now will be immediately and appropriately punished. I suggest that you don't be late. That is all."_

The transmission ended with another burst of white noise. Akina's ElectroID continued to update, and the others' appeared to be doing the same.

_Connection ended._

_"__Connection: Monoryuu" added to History._

_Your history may be accessed at any time through the main menu._

Flickering again, the transmission window soon vanished, their ElectroIDs reverting back to normal and displaying the main menu, as well as a graphic of their representative animal.

"Wh-what should we do?" someone squeaked.

Robert promptly stood up from his seat, nodding his head towards the exit. "We go to the clearing, of course."

"I agree." Hideo chimed, standing up with a wink. "I can't have all my beautiful faces being marred by the headmaster's punishments."

"Let's go already!" Rina exclaimed, jumping to her feet. "I want to see what he has for us!"

One by one, the students agreed to leave the dining hall and do as Monoryuu said. On the way out, Akina caught up with the panda-masked boy and the parakeet-girl chatting with him.

"Oh, hello!" The girl greeted Akina happily as she ran up next to the boy. She wore a cute, peach-colored dress that reached her knees and a short, buttonless tan vest. Akina realized that this girl also seemed to speak quickly.

"My name is Momoko! Shirayuki Momoko, but you may call me Momo! Yes, I know, it means 'peach', but you know what? I hate peaches! One bite and I'm dead. How ironic, right? I'm allergic to my own name!"

Akina's head whirled. "Ah…"

"You're Akina, aren't you? It's very nice to meet you! Oh, right—I'm the SHSL Anime Seiyuu!"

**Information Updated: PARAKEET - SHSL ANIME SEIYUU (VOICE ACTOR)**

"Now that I think about it," the panda-masked boy began. "Didn't you voice the main character in _Mahou Shoujo Midori Magica? _A show with magical girls or something?"

Momo beamed. "Yep, that was me! Are you a fan of the show?"

"I don't watch very much anime." he said, running a hand through his black hair. "I had a request from a cosplayer once, to make a costume from the show. I thought I needed to get the true essence of the character, so I ended up watching the whole thing."

"Do you get cosplay requests often?" Akina asked.

"Not too many. I'm originally from Italy, so anime obviously isn't as prominent there." His gaze wandered over to Akina, silently judging her outfit before remembering, "Oh yes, I still need to thank you. I heard that you and Rafael brought me to the cabins when I fell asleep."

"It's no problem, really! Rafael carried you anyways, and I think Hiiro watched over you…"

"Is that so?" He sighed. "Such a shame. The medication for my condition was supposed to be at Hope's Peak, but I'm afraid I won't have access to it now."

"Maybe you can ask for some from Monoryuu?" Momo suggested. "I mean, it's getting in the way of our 'lessons', isn't it?"

"Falling asleep makes me an easy target for murder, so he might as well prefer it this way."

"Th-There's no way this 'killing' thing is real, so you don't need to worry about that!"

"Have you always fallen asleep easily?" Akina inquired.

He shook his head. "I… overworked myself and developed it over time." He forced a grimace off of his face and turned to Akina. "Oh, that's right. I haven't introduced myself to you yet, have I? I'm Rico Nasta, the SHSL Tailor."

**Information Updated: PANDA - SHSL TAILOR**

Akina smiled brightly. "It's nice to meet you, Rico!"

"The same to you."

By now, all of the students from the dining hall had reached the center of the clearing. Monoryuu rested in the tall grass, watching with scornful eyes as the students wandered into the area in small groups. Akina noticed that the other students who hadn't come from the dining hall, like Angioletta and Micho, were already at the clearing as well.

"Well, dragon?" Jun asked mischievously, twirling a test tube in his left hand. "Why did you call us here?"

Monoryuu's red eye glinted, and Akina saw translucent lines of code on the glossy red surface, as though Monoryuu read data from the air itself.

_"__Hm," _the dragon snorted. _"so you all made it after all. I'll get on with it then."_

His claws pulled up thick tufts of grass as he got into a more suitable position. _"Your results are disappointing._" he said coldly. _"As of now, you are all failing your lessons."_

"No one cares about your lessons!" Angioletta shouted.

The dragon chuckled. Puffs of wispy, ashen smoke drifted from his mouth. _"Are you sure?" _he questioned, staring at her with a knowing, sharp-toothed grin. _"Well, no matter. A good teacher must know how to get through to his students. That's why today, you'll be receiving your first motive."_

"Motive…?" Apus murmured. "M-Motive as in, to kill?"

_"__That's correct."_

Kasumi studied the dastardly creature with care. "... what could you possibly give us that would be powerful enough to make us kill each other?"

_"__Things you could never even dream of." _He stalked up next to her, whispering softly in her ear. _"For example, I could erase the reason you were born."_

Kasumi narrowed her eyes. She didn't dare falter in his presence, especially not while all of her classmates were watching them. "How do you know about that?"

Monoryuu merely pulled his head back and smiled. "_I know many things."_

_"__Now," _he continued. _"your first motive. As a bonus to successfully graduating, the blackened student will also have the choice of erasing their past, and, if desired, gaining amnesia."_

"What?!" Ukita protested. "Why would anyone want to erase their past, let alone get amnesia?"

"What does blackened mean…?" Akina asked.

_"__A 'blackened' student is one that has fallen into despair, and embraced their lessons." _Monoryuu explained. _"As for willingly losing their memories… well, I'm sure that some of your classmates are more than capable of explaining their highly questionable pasts."_

The students exchanged apprehensive glances, and Monoryuu roared with laughter.

_"__What, you didn't know?" _he mocked. _"Liars and murderers hide amongst you!"_

"N-No way…" Lucas whispered. "That's…"

_"__Impossible? No, Songbird, it is the truth. How long will it be, I wonder, before one of them betrays the 'trust' of your class? Weeks? Days? Hours?" _He laughed again. _"Oh, what a pitiful group you are, not knowing such a simple piece of information."_

No one dared to answer him, so he continued.

_"__To those of you who wish to erase your pasts, come to terms with despair."_

_"__As for the rest of you… try not to fall into hysterics too quickly. The game isn't as fun that way."_

And with another gust of wind, the dragon flew off, leaving the doubtful students on their own again.


	7. Chapter I-IV: Sky High

**Chapter I-IV: Sky High**

"Fufufufufu…"

Fox's wicked laughter was the first thing to break the silence. The green-haired girl covered her mouth with her hand as she laughed, almost mocking the shock of the other students in the clearing.

"Wh-What's so funny?" a bear-masked boy peeped timidly. Akina found his behavior strange, as the boy was wearing a white martial arts outfit and looked fairly muscular.

"Why, all of this!" Fox threw out her arms and gestured to the landscape around them. "This dragon knows who we are—no, I'd say he knows us better than we, ourselves, do!"

Rafael glared at her. "And why, exactly, is that funny to you?"

"Fufufufufu… this is all just another part of God's game! I have no intentions to lose said game, by the way. Can't you understand, border bunny?"

"Excuse me, _border bunny?!"_

"That's right! A+ for comprehension! Maybe you can get a real job with that education of yours. Of course, if that doesn't work out, you could always go into manual labor like the rest of your hispanic friends—"

Angioletta clenched her fists. "Hey lady, quit misusing my material!"

Fox smirked. "Your material, huh? Well, if you run out of stereotypes, I'm sure that your family is more than enough of a joke."

"You—!"

The comedian intended to storm up to the sadistic girl and beat some sense into her, but stopped as a hand grabbed onto her shoulder from behind. Micho stood, pink ahoge swaying as she shook her head.

"W-We should stop this." Lucas stammered. "We're doing what Monoryuu wants."

"Well, _someone _needs to teach that jerk a lesson!" Angioletta spat.

Fox's lips curled into a mischievous smile. "Then, why don't you kill me? Or at least try to?"

Angioletta growled. "Ngh…! Maybe I will!"

"Angioletta!" Micho exclaimed in warning. "Watch what you say. Your words can and will be held against you."

"This isn't a court!"

"It may as well be, if someone gives in to Monoryuu's tricks." Micho exhaled, then added quietly. "Didn't you read the rules?"

"I'm sure that everyone here knows the rules very well already," a butterfly-masked girl added. She smiled, although her smile was saddened, likely from their bickering. "Please, let's just calm down for now."

"I agree...!" Apus added, adjusting the bandages around his neck. "This fighting isn't doing us any good at all. We need to focus on finding a way out of here, especially now that we've gotten a look around the place."

"What do you propose, then?" Rico asked.

"This is Aokigahara, right? We're not that far from Mt. Fuji. Surely, if we walk far enough into the forest—"

"Already tried that," a boy with a bat mask said, his arms crossed over his black jacket. His mask was peculiar—black, with a wing protruding from the left side. Drawn over the lower half of his face was a red scarf, leaving his face all but entirely obscured. "There's a tall fence a long ways out, running in a square around us. And don't even think about trying to climb it. It's got an electric current."

Rico frowned. "Can't we dig under it?"

The darkly-dressed boy shook his head. "I've tried that too. The fence runs all the way down to concrete."

"There's a breaker room by the bathhouse, isn't there?" the boy in a martial arts outfit asked. "What if we shut off the electricity?"

"It's locked, and 'breaking into rooms locked with a Monoryuu symbol is strictly prohibited'," Rafael recited.

"Sh-Shouldn't we try anyways? I haven't seen any cameras around the camp…"

Akina bit down on her lower lip. "I think he can see us anyways."

Momo frowned questioningly. "What do you mean?"

"He gave us exactly thirty minutes to get here, didn't he?" Akina explained. "If somebody was deep in the forest, thirty minutes definitely wouldn't be enough time! He must have known that nobody was that far out, somehow."

"He's fuckin' tracking us?" Ichiro instantly began patting himself down, shaking out his clothing for any unsuspecting bits of metal.

_If you consider that we all passed out at some point… _Akina paused. "I don't think you'll be able to get rid of it like that. They were probably implanted to us when we were asleep."

Ukita's face lit up. "Then Doc can just get 'em out of us, can't he?"

"I'm a doctor, not a surgeon."

His face fell again. "Oh. Aaaaargh!" He clutched at his face. "I don't like this dude! Being tracked by some weirdo dragon—I don't like this at all!"

"I wonder how he knows the true culprits…" Akina heard Rico mutter next to her. "If all he can do is track us, how does he know what happened?"

"There's no way he's tracking us!" Momo exclaimed quietly to Rico. "There's gotta be cameras or something… really small ones."

"There's too many possibilities…" Akina sighed in defeat. "I can't make a theory for this."

_Ah, but I can, _something whispered in her ear. Akina whirled around, eyes scanning the area for someone who wasn't there.

_That was… the voice from the train station?_

"Akina?" Momo asked, poking her new friend in the shoulder. "What is it?"

"O-Oh…" She'd definitely heard something, but perhaps it would be better for her to keep it to herself, for now. "It's nothing."

Momo shrugged. "If you say so."

"Well, since we're just sitting around now," Robert addressed the group. "Are we done here?"

"I guess so." Lucas said.

"I'll see you all later then."

With a parting nod, Robert turned and walked away from the rest of the class. Slowly but surely, the others began to do the same, dispersing to various stretches of the forest. As Rico and Momo left for the bathhouse, Akina decided to catch up with some of the students she hadn't met yet.

"Hello, hello, hello!" she chimed, skipping up to the bear-masked boy.

He revealed to her a timorous smile. "O-Oh, hello Lady Akina. Do you need something?"

"Lady? You don't need to be so formal!" Akina chided gently. "I just never got the chance to meet you, that's all."

"Oh…" the black-haired boy flushed. His bangs were swept to the side, almost covering the eye hole on the right side of his mask. "I'm Jin. Jin Nagamine, the SHSL Martial Artist."

**Information Updated: BEAR - SHSL MARTIAL ARTIST**

He swallowed nervously. "Was that good?"

Akina laughed softly, and Jin seemed to notice. "Wh-What's so funny?"

"Nothing! You're just so polite!" She punched him lightly on the arm.

"Ow," he said sheepishly, rubbing at his bicep. "Sorry…"

"You don't need to apologize!" She huffed, puffing out her cheeks in mock protest. "Honestly, you're just like Lucas!"

"Lucas? I'm sorry, I don't know who that is…"

"Mm, y'know, brown jacket, and a fedora?" When Jin gave her a blank stare, she continued. "Blonde hair that covers his ears, and a songbird mask?"

He let out a quiet noise of realization. "Oh, so he was the timid boy earlier?"

"Uhuh!" She paused. "You haven't met very many people yet, have you?"

He shied away from her persistent stare, gazing at some nonexistent thing off in the distance. "N-No… I tend to get very nervous, so I usually don't approach people…"

"That's okay! I'll go with you!" Akina practically leapt onto him, grabbing onto his hand.

"Wh-What?!" he stammered, glancing in panic down at his captured hand.

"C'mon, it'll be fun! You can join us for lunch later!"

In truth, they didn't actually have lunch plans, but Akina figured that everyone would meet up around noon in the dining hall anyways.

"Are you sure?"

She flashed a supportive smile at him. "Of course! Look, there's a girl over there!"

She pointed at a butterfly-masked girl a short distance away from them. Her brown hair was neatly tied into a bun, and she wore a green shirt with flowing, angel sleeves. She seemed to be gripping onto the edges of her shirt rather tightly, and she stared up at the sky, facing away from them.

"Do you know who she is…?" Jin whispered down to Akina.

"Nope! Which is why we should go meet her right now!"

Practically dragging Jin along, Akina ran up to the unknown girl and grabbed onto her bare hand, expecting to get her attention. "Hell—!"

"Eeee!" the girl squealed, whirling around immediately and almost smacking Akina in the face with the tassels of her mask.

"Wait, wait I'm sorry!" she chirped apologetically after seeing Akina stagger back. "I just don't like it when people touch my skin, that's all!"

"Huh?" It took a moment for her words to register in Akina's head. "Oh, that's okay! We shouldn't have come from behind."

The girl's eyes went back and forth between Akina and Jin. "I haven't met either of you before!"

"Hello…" Jin greeted quietly. "I'm Jin, the SHSL Martial Artist."

"Hi!" the girl replied in a chipper tone. "I'm Miyuki Ayasato, the SHSL Counselor. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!"

**Information Updated: BUTTERFLY - SHSL COUNSELOR**

"Wow, a counselor!" Akina remarked. "Though, I think everyone's going to need counseling after this…"

Miyuki's smile persisted. "That's okay! I mean, that's what friends are for, right?"

"Um… I think so!" Akina agreed. _But, our friends will be the ones killing… if-if someone goes through with this, of course!_

"If you ever need someone to talk to, I'm here." Miyuki looked at Jin sincerely. "The same goes for you, Jin!"

"O-Oh…" Akina swore that the martial artist was blushing. "Thanks."

"Of course!"

Akina surveyed the area around them. Everyone else had dispersed already, either to the camp or the forest. And yet, the counselor had stayed behind on her own.

"Miyuki, what were you doing out here?" she asked.

Miyuki gently gripped onto the edges of her shirt. Akina's eyes shifted down. _A reaction?_

"I guess I got caught up in my thoughts," Miyuki said with a saddened smile. "... this motive is really something, isn't it?"

"The motive?" Akina's facial expression came to match Miyuki's. "Oh, amnesia… I already have that, so it's okay!"

Jin's lips parted just slightly in surprised concern. "Akina… you have amnesia?"

"Well, it's not like I've forgotten my entire life. It's just…" She paused. "... the past two years or so, I can't remember them at all."

"Do you think it could be trauma?" Miyuki asked in a motherly tone. "Were you ever in an accident, or did something happen?"

"Nothing that I can remember…"

"Did you ask your family? Friends? Anyone?"

"I lost touch with my parents a long time ago," she admitted. "And for some reason, I can't find any of my friends! I went to their houses and their parents looked at me like I was crazy!"

"That's really strange…" Jin murmured.

Miyuki placed a hand on Akina's shoulder, a comforting gesture. "Don't worry Akina! I'm sure we'll be able to figure out what happened after we get out of here!"

Akina tapped a finger against her chin. "It doesn't really bother me or anything… it's just kinda… weird, don'tcha think?"

"Definitely! It's a mystery to be solved!"

"But… a lot of weird things have happened," Jin said quietly. "Do you think your amnesia and our situation are connected?"

"Maybe…" Akina debated internally. _Should I tell them about the body…?_

"If you remember something, you'll tell us, right?" Miyuki asked, smiling warmly.

She hesitated. "Of course!" _Sorry…_

"Then it's settled! We'll find a way out of here, then do everything we can to get your memories back!"

Akina smiled at the counselor's optimism. The ditzy girl continued.

"What were you two doing out here anyways?" she asked.

"We just wanted to do some introductions!" Akina explained.

"But doesn't everyone already know your name?"

"Yeah, but…"

"She's bringing me along," Jin admitted shyly.

"I haven't met very many people yet either!" Miyuki allowed her sleeve to fall over her hand before clasping her hand with Jin's. She hated being touched on her bare skin. "We can go together!"

Jin's face went red. "R-Really?"

"Of course! There's no need to go alone!"

"Th-Thank you…"

Akina giggled to herself at their cute interactions. "I think most people are at camp right now," she informed. "You should start there!"

"Got it! Thanks Akina!"

She waved to the two as they headed off towards the camp. Miyuki waved back frantically, while Jin did so with a bit more reserve.

Akina tapped on her chin again, mentally shuffling through her options.

_Where should I go now…?_

The bathhouse released a constant flow of steam from its ventilation pipes. Deciding that she had time for a quick soak before lunch, the theorist skipped off towards the steamy building in the distance.

* * *

><p>Momo sank down lower into the inviting waters of the hot springs. The facilities here were actually quite nice, beautifully decorated with various plants and fauna, and lined with black, polished rocks. It would have been something to look forward to, if she hadn't been kidnapped and forcibly kept here. She sighed through her nose, blowing bubbles into the water.<p>

"What's wrong?" Rico's muffled voice came through from the other side of the flimsy screen separating the women and men's baths.

She sat up. "It's hard to enjoy the bath in the middle of all of this."

She heard him chuckle. "This is my first time in a bathhouse," he admitted. "I have to say, I'm enjoying it quite a bit."

"I'm glad," Momo couldn't help but smile. "If we ever get out of here, I'll take you to a real one!"

"A _real _one?" he questioned.

"This one's probably fake. It's heated by artificial methods, not natural hot spots."

She waited a little for his reply. He didn't respond.

"Rico?" she called out hesitantly. Still, the tailor gave no reply. There was an unsettling feeling that she was being watched. _Did he fall asleep…?_

On the other side of the screen, she heard quiet splashing noises.

_"Shh—!"_

_"What are you…?"_

_"I said, shh!"_

"Um…" she began hesitantly. "Rico…?"

More splashing. Something hit the screen, and Momo waded her way over to investigate.

_"See? I told you!"_

_"Honestly, what are you—"_

_"Shh! She'll notice!"_

She swore that someone was in the hallway. Steam and bamboo fixtures obscured her view of the door, though she warily approached it anyways.

"H-Hello?" She slowly climbed the steps out of the bath. "Is someone there?"

More muffled whispering and chuckling, along with noises of protest from a third party.

Her brow furrowed. _Okay, _she decided, grabbing onto the handle of the sliding door. _On three!_

_One…!_

_Two…!_

_Three…!_

She threw open the door to the hallway and shrieked when she saw who it was.

* * *

><p>Akina opened the door to the shared locker room and bowed before stepping inside. "Please pardon the intrusion!"<p>

She looked around the large room. Though some of the benches were obscured by rows of lockers, there didn't appear to be anyone else around. Walking up to one of the lockers, she was pleasantly surprised to see that they were left open. She only needed to take the key out to lock it.

There were changing rooms deeper in the bathhouse, but she'd have to come back anyways to store her clothes. In a nearby locker, she saw Momo's peach-colored dress.

The first thing to come off was her scarf, followed by her jacket, blouse, skirt, then finally her undergarments. Her hairclip could stay in, since her hair needed to be put up anyways. After tossing all of her clothes into a locker, Akina grabbed a towel from the shelf and set off for the bamboo door in the back, leading to the sauna.

Not expecting anyone to be inside, she opened the door to the sauna and walked in, much to the surprise of the person inside. She gasped, unable to take her eyes off of them.

"I… I'm sorry."

* * *

><p>"Hideo Nanpa!"<p>

Hastily covering herself up with a towel, Momo glared down at the boy in the hallway. The romantic scampered backwards on his hands.

"Now now, sweetie, let's not get too hasty—!"

"How long have you been spying on me?!"

"Chehehehe…" Jun snickered, sweeping his dripping wet white hair to the side. "Would 'from the moment you entered' be a good answer…?"

"You were spying on me too?!" Momo flushed, drawing her towel tighter around her.

Jun placed a hand around Rico's shoulder and drew him closer, much to Rico's chagrin. The three boys had towels wrapped around their waists. "Let's not forget about our little tailor. Remember, three's a crowd, chehehehe…"

"Th-That's not a good thing here!" she spluttered.

"Oh sweetheart, you should take it as a compliment!" Hideo winked, getting to his feet. "You've got three handsome boys sneaking off to see you! Well, one _particularly _handsome boy and two others."

He received a towel to the face. Unfortunately for him, it wasn't the one wrapped around her.

Rico sighed. "I _told _you this was a bad idea."

Jun showed a mischievous grin. "I'd say it was worth it. Wouldn't you agree?"

Momo exhaled sharply through her nose, turning away. "A-As long as you only saw my figure through the screen!"

"Chehehehe… too bad the screen rips rather easily."

She looked down at the screen door and sure enough, a small flap had been torn near the bottom of the thin material.

The realization slowly dawned on her, her face becoming even redder.

_That means… they saw my… _

"Get out! Get out! GET OUUUUUUUUUT!"

* * *

><p>Akina sat on a bench in the locker room, alone. After talking for a while with the person in the sauna, they had left, and she had returned to the locker room to fetch her clothes so that she could change. Her ElectroID clattered onto the floor as she reached inside the locker.<p>

_These have a bunch of functions, don't they? _She tapped the screen once, and the screen flickered briefly before displaying an image of a koi.

_Koi, _it read. It was strange how the devices didn't use their names.

She tapped on the screen again and the picture of the koi shrunk, making space for the main menu.

_| Regulations  
>| Layout<br>| Info  
>| History<br>| Monoryuu_

Opening up the regulations, she was surprised to see how few there were.

_1. Breaking into rooms locked with a Monoryuu symbol is strictly prohibited. Anyone who attempts to do so will be punished swiftly and appropriately._

_2. Following a body discovery announcement, 24 hours will be given for investigation before a school trial commences. Participation in the trial is mandatory, unless an exception is granted by Monoryuu himself._

_3. A student who "graduates" will be free to leave the forest. The requirements for graduation are as follows:  
><em>_- You kill at least one student, but no more than two.  
><em>_- You successfully get away with the crime, fooling the other students at the class trial. In this case, the other students will be punished appropriately for failing to identify the blackened student._

_4. Additional rules may be added at any time._

_No more than two? _Akina reread the line over and over. _Who would want to kill so many of their classmates?_

The door to the hallway burst open, and Momo whirled in.

"_Honestly_! I can't believe those three!" she chirped, pulling her towel tighter around herself. She paused, seeing Akina. "Oh, hi Akina! What are you doing?"

"Just looking at my ElectroID," she answered.

"Oh, those things that Monoryuu told us not to break?" She gave Akina a reassuring grin. "Don't worry! Monoryuu is just a crazy dragon on crack! Just leave him alone with his obsession of sadism-masochism. Being bored to death, he'll kill himself and we'll be free!"

Akina raised her eyebrows, though she wasn't sure if Momo saw under her mask. "I don't think that sounds like Monoryuu…"

"It'll be fine! We'll get out of here, I'm sure of it!"

She smiled, looking around for a moment, then back up at Momo. "Didn't you come here with Rico?"

"I did, but we got ran into a few… problems!" The anime seiyuu's smile twitched.

"Problems?"

"Yeah! But you don't need to worry about it! I've got it aaaaaaaall taken care of!"

Akina studied her skeptically. "If you say so." She glanced at the clock. "Should we go meet up with the others for lunch?"

"Sounds good! Let's get changed and go!"

* * *

><p>When the two had dried themselves off and finished changing, they headed out through the backdoor of the bathhouse, near the forest's edge.<p>

Akina wrung out some more water from her hair. "I wonder if Rina made stuff for lunch?"

"Probably!" Momo chimed. "She's an excellent cook!"

"She really is! I can't believe she made breakfast all by herself!"

Momo giggled. "Well she _does _have all that energy to spare!"

A loud chattering from the forest caught their attention.

Ukita, Apus, and the bat-masked boy were standing at the forest's edge, a short distance away. Momo looked to Akina—she nodded—and the two of them ran up to the others. Akina noticed that Rina was crouching in the forest, facing away from the other three. The smell of charred flesh was clear in the air.

"Uhh, dude? Rina?" Ukita asked hesitantly, not having noticed Akina or Momo. The bat-boy was studying Rina carefully, and Apus watched on anxiously. The pilot's body was rigid, almost contorted.

Ukita reached a bandaged hand towards Rina shoulder, and the bat-boy seemed to come to a realization, darting forward towards them.

"Wait, don't—!"

As Ukita made contact with Rina, the sickening crack of electricity filled the air and Ukita's body twitched. The boy with a bat mask quickly shoved the archer to the side, forcing him out of the current and receiving a minor shock of his own.

"Holy fuck!" Ukita yelled, falling backwards and staring in horror at his singed hand. The bat-boy shook out his own hand, which stung after the electricity had tried to jump to him.

"She's gone," the bat-masked boy panted through his red scarf. "Electrified."

"W-Wait, then Rina… this is…!" Momo stuttered.

"I can't move my fingers," Ukita breathed in disbelief. He flexed his right arm back and forth, as though expecting some feeling to return to them. His eyes darted to each student, looking for an answer, a solution, a suggestion—anything. "I can't move my fingers. I can't move my fingers! _Dude!_ _I can't move my fingers!"_

Apus trembled, shaking erratically. He began to stagger backwards a few steps, then slumped to the ground, unconscious.

"A-Apus?" Akina ran over to the boy in concern. Her ElectroID suddenly beeped, and she heard the other students' ElectroIDs doing the same. She pulled it out of her pocket with a shaky hand.

_Connected: Monoryuu_

_Body Discovery Alert_

Oh. So he was here to mess with them again. The screen flashed red, displaying the outline of a body in what appeared to be a pool of blood. The first thing she heard was his rumbling laughter, before he spoke in a gruff tone.

_"A body has been discovered," _he informed. _"After twenty-four hours of investigation, a class trial will be held."_

* * *

><p><em>Author's Note: Hello, hello, hello everyone! Hope you're enjoying the story so far. (Did someone say- shh, Komaeda). <em>

_Anyways, quick question for you all! Would you prefer for me to continue writing as usual through investigations and trials, or would you prefer an evidence bullet/script format? Investigations would mostly read as usual, but there would be bolded evidence points. Trials would be completely in script format, like so:_

A-YA: Don't be stupid. There's no way the culprit could have done that!

B-KO: That's right! How could the kitchen have spontaneously combusted?!

**NON-STOP DEBATE:**

C-TA: The killer **must have used the knife to cut open the training dummy!**

C-TA: There's **no other way to get inside!**

D-NE: But what about the scissors we found in the sewing room?

D-NE: Couldn't the killer have **[[used those to cut the dummy open]]** instead?

**A-YA: That can't be what happened!**

_That was nonsense, but you get the point! Feel free to drop a review saying whether you'd prefer "story-format" (like the rest of the chapters) or script-format! -fatefulERA_


	8. Chapter I-V: (Investigation) Lacrima

**Chapter I-V: (Investigation) Lacrima**

When Monoryuu finally disconnected from the line, a new window appeared on Akina's ElectroID, as well as a map leading to the location of the body.

**Evidence Added: Monoryuu File**

_Victim: Rina Kimura  
>Cause of Death: Electrocution<br>Time of Death: 10:52 AM  
>Additional Information: The victim has severe electrical burns, as well as a cut on their right hand.<em>

"N-No way…" Akina quivered. "Rina…"

The bat-masked boy stared at the body for a while, then turned to face the others. He drew his scarf higher over his face with his unafflicted hand.

"You heard the headmaster," he said quietly. "We only have twenty-four hours. We can grieve when this is over."

"H-Hey," Ukita's voice shook, still clutching his paralyzed hand. "This'll go away right? It's just a temporary thing, _right?"_

The boy didn't answer.

Momo shook, her hands raised to her mouth. "R-Rina…! No…" She shook her head, causing her damp chestnut locks to fling water everywhere. "How… how could this be possible?! I-I'm sorry everyone, I think I need to go to the toilet…"

As she ran off, Ichiro arrived, Hiiro and Rafael in tow. His eyes landed on the body, and he stopped where he was. "O-Oh shit!"

Rafael shivered, looking away. Though their masks were decorated and colorful, they couldn't hide the bitterness on their faces.

Hiiro knelt down by Apus' unconscious figure, instinctively checking his pulse and breathing. When he confirmed that the white-haired boy would be fine, he stood back up, looking at the body, which was still contorted and rigid.

"You… you should look at Ukita's arm," Akina said to Hiiro quietly. The archer had already gotten to his feet and was making their way over to them.

"What happened?" Hiiro asked.

"He tried to touch her while she was still in the current," The bat-boy said. "She's still in it, even now. The electricity's still going too, so watch for cables—this place must be trapped."

Ukita held up his injured hand to Hiiro, who began gingerly removing the charred bandages.

"How bad am I, Doc?" Ukita asked with a wistful grin. Hiiro gently prodded the archer's palm.

"Can you feel that?" he asked, not raising his gaze.

"Not at all." Ukita's grin grew more persistent. More pained. "C'mon Doc, don't hold back now. How bad is it?"

Hiiro opened his mouth to answer, but couldn't find the words. Everyone's eyes were fixated on him. Everyone wanted an answer.

"... nerve damage," he said finally. He hesitated before continuing, adding the next few words like an afterthought. "... likely permanent."

"Hah." Pulling his arm away, Ukita hastily rewrapped the bandages using his other hand. _… so much for the SHSL Archer._

Physically, he flashed the others a grin that was meant to look carefree. "Well, no point in getting all gloomy over it! We've got an investigation to do, am I right?"

Akina smiled. For his sake. "Y-Yeah!"

The others soon arrived, including the three boys from the bathhouse. Hideo looked as though he were suppressing a scream. Rico, for whatever reason, was still in a towel, holding a hand to his head. Jun didn't even flinch, the same sly grin on his face as always.

"_Eterno riposo, concedere a loro, o Signore," _whispered Angioletta, wide-eyed. "_E lasciare che perpetua risplenda ad essi la luce."_

Rico gripped his head, glanced at her, and translated unconsciously. "_Eternal rest, grant unto them, O Lord,_" he whispered. "_And let perpetual light shine upon them_."

They bowed their heads. Whether in respect, or in submission, they didn't quite know.

Robert's voice was distant. "Two days," he muttered. "Not even two days."

Fox roared with laughter after studying the corpse, throwing her head back at the sky. "Do you find this entertaining, God?!"

Ichiro stormed over and hit her across the face. Hard. "You think this is fuckin' funny, bitch?!"

"I must say, I do!" She rubbed the bright red mark on her cheek, ignoring everyone's glares. "Can't you see? This isn't a camp full of friendship and fun. No, not at all. This is a _game _and all of you useless brats are going to lose!"

He struck her again. "Just shut the fuck up already!"

"Fufufufu… fine!" Fox got to her feet. The last blow had sent her reeling. "But don't blame me if we lose this thing because you were all too busy crying over her dead body!" She grinned. "Failure isn't falling down; it's not getting back up again."

Satisfied with her words, Fox strode off and out of everyone's views. Angioletta tsk'ed in annoyance, muttering something along the lines of 'good riddance'.

"C'mon. We need to find Rina's…" Rafael swallowed, licked his lips. "Rina's killer."

"There's a wire," the bat-masked boy announced suddenly. He looked to the people who were standing at the forest's edge. "Anything out there?"

Akina glanced around. There didn't appear to be anything in the tall grass. At least, not until something glinted in the sunlight. Careful not to touch whatever was there, she ran over and parted the tall grass.

"F-Found it!" she called. She traced the thin line with her eyes and hesitated. "I think it leads to, um… Rico's cabin?"

"What in the name of Florence—?" Rico started. "Mine?"

"Th-There's some over here too," Lucas exclaimed a short distance away. "It… it really does lead to Rico's cabin."

**Evidence Added: Wire Loop**

"H-Hold on, I'm not the culprit!" the tailor blustered.

"No one said that you were," Kasumi replied. She pulled her headphones off of her ears, allowing her dirty blonde hair to fall freely, and glanced disheartenedly at Apus. "Someone should get him out of here. He'll only be in the way."

"L-Leave it to me," Hideo volunteered quickly. He rushed over and scooped up the younger boy in his arms. When he walked away, he fought the desire to run. _I… I don't want to see anymore of this._

His mind fought him. _Oh? And your classmates do?_

_Be quiet. Please._

Akina looked at Rico—or, more specifically, Rico's lack of attire. "Rico," she began. "Why are you still in a towel?"

He frowned. "Someone took the key to my locker. My clothes and ElectroID were all inside."

"Th-That's weird," Miyuki said, rubbing Jin's back. The martial artist seemed to be having trouble breathing. "Why would someone want your key?"

"The same reason they wanted to attach the wires to Rico's cabin," the bat-boy said. "To frame him, of course."

**Evidence Added: Rico's Locked Locker**

Jin coughed into the crook of his arm. "We need—*cough*—we need a plan."

Miyuki looked up at him with worried eyes. "Jin, don't push yourself," she murmured soothingly.

He shook his head, coughed a few more times, then took a breath. "No—" A smaller cough. "—we… we need to figure this out."

"Jin…" Akina started softly. "Are you really going to be alright…?"

"D-Don't worry about me." His voice was quiet as always, but determined.

Micho grimaced. "We should see what we can find around camp. We won't be able to cover much ground in a big group like this."

"I agree," the bat-masked boy said, already peering down at Rina's static corpse. "We should split up."

"Shall we meet up in the morning to discuss our findings?"

"We don't need to." Robert paused, crossing his arms. "That's what the trial is for, isn't it?"

"Yeah…" Akina looked to each one of the students, who regarded her with solemn eyes. "Good luck, everyone."

Her words acted as a sort of dismissal. Several of the students turned on their heels and began walking away, towards the camp—away from Rina's body. The smell of her cooking body was still prominent in the air. It was unnervingly similar to a barbeque, really.

As the bat-masked boy walked past Akina, she tapped on his shoulder. He regarded her politely.

"Ah…" She hesitated. "This probably isn't the right time for introductions, but… who are you?"

"My name is Zetsu Kibougoushi. You may call me Zetsu."

"And… your talent?"

He blinked at her. "I'm the SHSL Thief."

**Information Updated: BAT - SHSL THIEF**

"Huh? Thief? How come you weren't arrested?" Akina asked.

"Hope's Peak grants criminal immunity to its students," he answered. He adjusted his scarf, preventing it from slipping off of his face as he spoke. "That's why, even someone like me can attend."

_So you can even be invited as the SHSL Thief? _Akina wondered. "What happens when you graduate?"

He thought about her inquiry, then shrugged. "Who knows?" He sniffed the air and scowled. "Come. We don't have much time to investigate. We should start by getting the body out of that current."

They began walking towards Rico's cabin, where the wires led. Akina furrowed her brow.

"Why do you say it like that?" she asked Zetsu. "'the body', instead of 'her body'?"

He didn't look at her as they continued, grass rustling beneath them. "Like I said, we can grieve later. It's best to distance yourself, for now."

"Okay…" When they arrived at Rico's cabin, surprisingly enough, it was Apus who stood outside. "Apus! Are you alright?"

He smiled wistfully. "Y-Yeah… I just blacked out for a bit! I'm alright now though!"

"What happened to Hideo?" Zetsu asked.

"Rafael came by and told us that everyone was splitting up. I think Hideo said he was going to go get alibis from the others. I thought I would be of use here, and I was right! Take a look at this!"

He led them over to the place where the wires connected. On the outside of Rico's cabin was a circuit box, with its door wide open and the original wires tangled up. Two of the longest wires had been unbundled and stripped of their insulation, then placed along the ground. Of course, they led to Rina's body and formed the wire loop.

**Evidence Added: Rico's Circuit Box**

"See! Look at this!" Apus exclaimed, pointing at the tangled wires. He shook his head in disappointment. "Whoever did this was obviously an amateur... wires like this would never make it into a bomb!"

"What's jammed into the OFF switch?" Zetsu squinted through his mask.

"Hm?" Akina glanced at the metallic object forcing the switch into the ON position. "Hey! That's a key from the locker room! It must be Rico's!"

"But why would they use a key?" Apus questioned. "It would have been easier to use a branch or something—something closer."

Akina pondered. "Maybe they stole it and wanted to get rid of it…?"

"By jamming it into a switch?"

"I don't know!"

"Nevermind that, how do we get it out?" Zetsu asked.

"We need something rubber," Apus explained. "We'll definitely be shocked if we just grab at it."

Zetsu glanced down at his shoes—red sneakers—and looked back up at the key. Raising his leg to the panel, he slammed it down, sending the key flying into the grass. Apus ran over and fetched it, bringing it back.

"Huh," he remarked, holding the key up in his hand. He cocked a playful eyebrow at the thief from under his mouse mask. "It's slightly bent. I wonder why?"

Zetsu chuckled and flicked the switch into the OFF mode. The constant hum of the electricity finally stopped. "Whatever's practical."

**Evidence Added: Locker Room Key**

"Hm…" Zetsu pulled out one of the tangled wires, inspecting its end. "I haven't seen any wire cutters around here. How did the culprit cut these?"

Apus frowned. "They must have used a knife or something… those are really smooth cuts, even better than a rough wire cutter!"

"Better than a wire cutter…?" Akina murmured.

**Evidence Added: Cut Wires**

"Yeah! Though, if they had a weapon as thin as that, they could have easily gotten under the panel and pried open the circuit box as well." Apus explained. He swung the door back, showing them the front of the panel. Mounted onto the front was a scanner for one's ElectroID, much like the ones on the doors of the cabins.

"So you need an ElectroID to get in…" Zetsu observed. "The owner of the cabin's?"

"Probably," Akina said.

Apus tapped on the panel, gesturing to strange objects in each of the four corners. "Magnets. Swiping your ElectroID must release them and let the door open."

"So they really could be pried open?" Akina asked.

"Definitely."

**Evidence Added: Circuit Box Lock**

Apus scratched the back of his head. "I think that's all for now. I'm gonna stay back and see if I can find anything else."

Zetsu looked to Akina. "The body's out of the current now. Shall we take a look?"

"I-Isn't that what the Monokuma file's for…?"

He shook his head. "It's not enough information. C'mon."

Reluctantly, Akina turned and followed Zetsu back through the grass.

"I'll let you guys know if I find anything!" Apus called as they left.

"Y-Yeah! Thanks Apus!"

* * *

><p>After the current had been turned off, Rina's body crumpled into the bushes, falling over the loop of wire that had killed her. Hiiro and Rafael had been on standby while Akina and Zetsu talked with Apus at the cabin. The doctor snapped on a pair of rubber gloves, while the other boy took to memorizing every inch of the crime scene. By the time Akina and Zetsu returned, Hiiro was already hunched over the body, inspecting it for any unlisted injuries.<p>

Akina turned away from the corpse, bowing her head respectfully. Rina's hands were a desolate black mess. Her skin had been entirely burnt off, the muscle beneath that charred until it looked like a lump of coal. Zetsu stepped closer, but didn't flinch.

_She's a mess, _Hiiro thought. Electrical burns were devastating. The body often contorted and blistered until it was no longer recognizable as a human being. Though Rina had looked alright from behind, the electricity had sparked all over her front, leaving large welts and angry red patches of flesh. _God… who would ever want to do this?_

He shook his head and spoke, keeping his eyes down.

"No additional injuries from what's been listed," he stated calmly. Behind him, he heard the bushes rustle, and turned around.

Zetsu had picked up a shard of glass and was turning it over in his gloved hand. Every so often, it would catch a ray of sunlight and glint, causing Hiiro to squint. Akina was watching, but distantly, and with saddened eyes. It seemed that the state of the corpse had stunned her into silence.

Well, she hadn't seemed like the type to handle death very well anyways.

"Take a look at this," Zetsu said, running his finger along the edge of the shard. One of the edges was coated in damp, sticky blood.

**Evidence Added: Shard of Glass**

Akina finally approached them, however wearily. She still wouldn't stare too long at Rina's corpse. The skyblue pilot suit the girl had worn was fried into a fine black.

"Do you think there was a fight?" she asked quietly.

Rafael shook his head. "It's too elaborate for a fight. It must have been a trap."

Hiiro gently placed his gloved hands on Rina's limp body and rolled the young pilot over onto her back. He placed his fingers on the edge and tugged lightly on her hummingbird mask. Even in death, it wouldn't come off.

Akina glanced over and couldn't help but think. _I'm sorry, Rina. I promise we'll bury you properly—after all of this is over._

_Your killer is one of us._

Something on the ground caught her attention, and she stepped closer.

A small puddle of scarlet had settled into the dirt where Rina's corpse was before she collapsed.

**Evidence Added: Spots of Blood**

Zetsu's eyes flickered to the nearby wire. A small section of it was also covered in blood.

Hiiro made his way over and gently picked up the wire, tapping his finger against it. He ran it roughly against a nearby leaf, and the waxy surface cut with ease.

"Pretty sharp," Rafael remarked.

"It was originally insulated," Zetsu stated. "It was stripped. The other ones in the circuit box are all fine."

**Evidence Added: Bloody Wire**

"Is that what caused the cut on her hand?" Akina asked Hiiro.

"I have no idea, honestly. Her body is… well..." His voice trailed off.

_Horribly disfigured, right? _Akina thought. She snuck another glance, then winced.

"Akina," Zetsu's slightly muffled voice broke the theorist from her thoughts. "I'm going to see what else I can find around here. Go on without me."

"A-Alright."

Sparing the victim a final bow of her head, Akina turned and made her way out of the forest, heading towards the camp.

* * *

><p>"Miss Akina!" Hideo ran up the gravelly camp pathway to meet her. She turned to look at the honey-haired boy, not having noticed him earlier.<p>

"Oh… hi, Hideo," she replied. He caught her disheartened tone and frowned.

_Is something the matter? _He wanted to ask, his soft lips parting to speak. But there was honestly no need. He already knew the answer.

The koi-masked girl was staring down at the ground. He tugged quietly at the blue rose pinned onto his blazer. It had been a heirloom from his grandfather—his father's side.

Akina glanced at him. "Was there anything you needed…?"

He stared at her with the same weary eyes she regarded him with.

_Yes. I need everyone to be happy._

She let out a muffled noise of surprise when he pulled her close. Due to their difference in height, her feet were lifted slightly off of the ground.

"H-Hideo, what are you—"

"Shh," he cooed into her hair. Her scarf tickled his neck. "It's alright."

"What are you talking about…?" She narrowed her eyes.

In response, he only held her tighter. He felt like her older brother, really, which was understandable. He was seventeen. She looked to be around three years younger.

"I'm sorry I can't do anything but talk," he whispered. "I hope that's enough for you."

A moment of silence. Akina pursed her lips, still suspended by his embrace.

"Rina's dead."

His light brown eyes dulled. "I know."

"She's really dead. This isn't a joke."

"I know, hon."

"It's not fair—" she choked. Her vision blurred. "... it's not fair. Rina's dead. She'll never cook, or move, or talk again..."

"She lived a good life."

"She was a kid, like us!"

_And her killer is a kid, like us._

She struggled, and Hideo set her down, though he still held onto her wrists.

"Her killer is one of us," she said breathily. "One of _us!_ I thought we were all… I thought we were all _friends_."

Hideo practically radiated sympathy. He gingerly stroked her wrists with his thumbs. "We _are _friends."

"Then why…" Akina felt herself scowling and lowered her voice to a whisper. "Why would someone do that to Rina?"

Hideo met her eyes as best he could. The masks not only clung to their faces like a hinderance, but forced a feeling of anonymity between them. "Because they were desperate, just like us."

Akina blinked a few tears from her eyes.

"This shouldn't be happening," she whispered. "We should be doing introductions, a-and getting to know each other. It's only the second day. We've only known each other for _two days_. You… you shouldn't have to…" _To comfort me._

Hideo half shrugged his shoulders. He seemed to understand. "But I want to."

A long drawn out silence. Then, Akina exhaled.

"Thank you."

"Of course, sweetheart."

He smiled and placed a hand under her chin, gently lifting her gaze from the ground. "Chin up now. We have a mystery to solve."

She smiled in earnest. Her cheeks were red, a bit overwhelmed by emotion. "Yeah," she agreed softly. "So, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Hm…" The romantic finally released her other wrist and thought. "Oh yes! I've gotten a few testimonies from the others. I thought you'd like to hear?"

"I would, of course."

He chuckled. "Okay~! Birdboy—not me, of course I'm referring to the less fabulous one—and the brute with the coyote mask both agree that they were in the dining hall with that sweetheart Rafael and that _deplorable _woman who goes by the name of Fox. Apparently, they were chatting for a whole hour before the announcement was made."

**Evidence Added: Hideo's Testimony**

He shook his head, rustling the peacock feathers on his mask. "I don't know how much that will help, but it's what I've got."

"No, that was good!" Akina beamed. "Thanks, Hideo!"

"Anytime, sweetie. I would try the kitchen next. I think Momo and a few of the others are there right now."

"Alright." She turned on her heel, then paused. "Thanks again, Hideo." she added. "For…"

He dismissed her with a petty wave of his hand. "Of course. Good luck!"

"I'll see you later!"

* * *

><p>Akina entered through the backdoor of the kitchen. Momo was crouched down, shuffling through various drawers, and Rico, now fully dressed, was searching through the upper cabinets. Micho looked up from the knife she was inspecting when the theorist entered.<p>

"Oh, it's you, Akina."

"Akina?" Momo questioned, turning around. "Akina! Have you found anything?"

She nodded slowly. "A little, but… nothing that points to a culprit."

Momo's face fell. "Oh… that's okay! I'm sure we'll get some more clues when we all gather at… the…"

"The trial," Micho finished. "The trial to find Rina's killer."

"Yeah, that!" Akina saw Momo swallow nervously before turning back to the drawers.

"Rico," Akina began, looking at the tailor's new attire. "Did you find the key to your locker?"

He closed the door to the cabinet he was searching and faced her. "Ah, no, actually. I got another set from my cabin. They're actually quite well stocked, with identical sets of clothes and various toiletries."

**Evidence Added: Cabin Supplies**

"Identical sets of clothes?" Momo chirped as she pulled out a frying pan. "That sounds like an anime or something, where the characters never change clothes!"

Micho flicked her pink ahoge. "Well if you look at it that way, this whole thing could be an anime. We just have to be the protagonists."

Akina scratched her cheek. "But isn't the protagonist usually the one that has to suffer through everything…?"

"That's true. But they _do _win out in the end." Micho smiled. "We'll just have to stick it out."

"Yeah!" Momo exclaimed, leaping to her feet and kicking the drawer shut. She struck a triumphant pose, her voice imitating a character from the popular anime, _Guilty Crown. _"_There are only two paths to choose from: you can sit quietly and be selected out of this world, or you can adapt and change!_"

"Wow Momo," Akina tilted her head to the side. "You really do sound just like her!"

"Of course! I voiced the main character after all! I can imitate almost all female voices."

Micho raised a curious eyebrow. "That's really interesting. Sounds like some key evidence for a crime."

"I would never use it for that!"

Rico sighed. "Speaking of evidence for a crime, I'm being set up. You guys believe me, right?"

"I do," Akina said quietly.

"Honestly," Micho berated. "Whoever set this up wasn't very intelligent. If you really _were _the culprit, why would you ever leave the crime scene like that?"

Akina considered her statement. "Maybe… reverse psychology?"

"Why on _earth _would I do that?" Rico glared, leaning on the counter.

"Whatever," Micho set down the kitchen knife in her hand. "Nothing seems to be too out of place here. There's nothing on the knives, but I can't tell if they've been cleaned by the culprit."

**Evidence Added: State of the Kitchen**

"We wouldn't be able to tell if they've been used by the culprit anyways," Rico added. "Rina used them to cook breakfast."

"Why was she out there...?"

He shrugged, then remembered her body and shuddered. "No idea. Just curious, I suppose."

"That _does _seem like her…"

There was a brief moment of silence.

"Look," Micho said at last, glancing up at the clock hanging above the doors to the dining hall. "It's getting late. Maybe we should just call it a day."

Akina's stomach suddenly growled in agreement. Embarrassed, she covered her stomach with her arm and glanced away. Rico seemed to notice and smiled.

"We should all get something to eat too," he commented.

Micho put the knife on the counter back into the rack and picked out a larger one—one fit for cutting rather than severing. "I can cook."

_You can be our replacement chef, _Akina began to think. She hastily stopped herself, a bit concerned at her own mindset. _No. No—you don't replace your friends._

"Do you want any help?" she asked Micho.

The attorney lazily spun the blade in her hand, making her way over to the fridge and looking over the selection of produce before answering, "I think I'll be fine."

"If you say so." Akina reached over her shoulder and picked out a bottle of water. There were hundreds in the storehouse, but only a few being chilled in the fridge. The lid cracked open with a quiet _hiss _and she took a long drink before recapping it. "I'll be in my cabin, then, if anyone needs me. I'll be back in… an hour?"

"Alright," Rico nodded. "See you, Akina."

Momo waved. "Bye Akina!"

Slipping out the backdoor, Akina left for her cabin.

* * *

><p>The door to her cabin unlocked with a mechanical whir as she swiped her ElectroID. The sun was setting by now, painting the sky a gradient of blue to orange to purple. She quietly stepped inside of her cabin and flicked on the light switch by the door.<p>

The interior of the cabins were simple. Two rooms—the main area, and then the bathroom off to the side. A single, plush, twin-sized bed was pressed up against the wall opposite to the door of the bathroom, a nightstand with a small lamp sitting next to it. Adjacent to the nightstand was a polished, wooden desk with a single horizontal drawer. A large window and tan curtains, similar to the one in front of the desk, could also be found on the opposite wall, next to the doorway of the cabin.

Overall, the room was quite spacious, and very modest, which Akina appreciated. A simple notebook had been placed upon her desk, along with an elegant black pen, both decorated with Monoryuu's emblem: a single wing in the shape of his jagged eye with a tail looped around it.

She made her way over and flicked on the desk lamp, taking a seat in the cushioned spiral chair provided. The non-wooden material didn't quite fit with the rest of the furniture in the cabin, but she didn't mind. She flipped open the cover and noted the narrow pale green lines of the pages within. The black ink flowed out of the pen with ease.

_9/6/36, _she dated. _List of evidence:_

_- circuit box  
>- wire loop<br>- shard of glass_

Her list was erratic, ordered by whatever came to mind first.

_- locker room key  
>- circuit box lock<em>

It was hard to remember everything they'd found. Boring, too. She tapped the back of her pen impatiently against the desk, resting her head in her other arm. What else were they missing? There had to be something… she just needed… to make… a theory…

* * *

><p>She opened her eyes and jumped, startled to find herself in an empty industrial street. It was dark, not to mention cold. The sky was filled with flickering stars. Abandoned warehouses and factories lined the sides of the road.<p>

The scene seemed vaguely familiar to her. _Hello? _she wanted to call out, but when her lips parted, no sound came out. Her body wouldn't respond, no matter how hard she willed it to.

And then, all of a sudden, she was moving. She was walking, but not on her own accord. Her legs paced automatically towards a certain warehouse on the left side. A faint light was coming from one of its shattered windows.

_Th-this is scary, _she thought. At least she still had control of her thoughts. _I don't want to go in there. Please stop. I don't want to…_

And still she strode across the asphalt. She realized that she wasn't in her usual attire. What was this—a sundress? Its lacy lining tickled her bare legs.

_"__Akina," _someone called. She wanted to turn around and make sure no one was following her. She couldn't, and continued approaching the window. _"Akina." _A distant knock. _"Akina…"_

Something drifted in the air. It shimmered, almost like an airy piece of glitter. Several of them were coming out of the window, being carried by some unknown force.

_"__Akina…!"_

Spots of something were on the ground, splattered. Crimson.

_"__AKINA!"_

* * *

><p>Akina's eyes shot open and instantly met someone else's through the window. She didn't even have time to squeak as she reared back and tumbled out of her spiral chair, landing roughly on the hardwood floor with a <em>thump. <em>

_"__Are you okay?" _the person asked, their voice muffled by the glass. Akina soon realized that it was Robert and mentally chided herself for panicking so easily.

"Yeah…" she huffed, getting up and rubbing her butt regretfully. She looked out the window again, where Robert was standing with his arms crossed. For some reason, it was bright outside.

_"__You slept through the whole night," _he informed her apathetically. _"Momoko and Rico got worried so they came to check on you before dinner, but by then you were already asleep."_

She scratched her head. "Why didn't anyone wake me up…?"

_"__They thought we should leave you alone. Besides, we couldn't get into your cabin anyway."_

_Oh right, the ElectroID lock, _Akina gently patted her pocket for hers. She stretched her arms above her head and touched her toes before heading outside to meet him.

"What time is it?" she asked the survivalist, stifling a yawn.

He looked up at the sky. The sun showed that it was not quite noon, but close to it. "A few minutes before the trial starts."

"Wh-what?!" Akina scrambled. She looked at him in bewilderment. "Why didn't anyone wake me up earlier?!"

"Believe me, we tried. You're a deep sleeper."

She hastily ran her fingers through her hair, fixing the star shaped hairpin that kept her hair out of her eyes. "Did anyone find anything else?"

He shrugged, his shoulders shifting almost uncaringly. "We all agreed that we'd present what we found at the trial. It's easier like that."

"But what about—"

A loud burst of white noise cut her off. It wasn't very hard to guess who it was, but she took her ElectroID out of her pocket and looked at it anyways.

_Connected: Monoryuu_

_Please stand by for further instructions._

She wanted to roll her eyes, but couldn't find the rudeness in her to do so.

_"__Attention students," _announced Monoryuu. _"You have ten minutes to get to the center of the clearing, starting now. That is all."_

The connection dropped abruptly, as it always did. Akina slipped the device back into her pocket and mentally noted that the allotted time had changed from thirty minutes to ten.

_There really must be trackers._

She looked to Robert, and he nodded back. "Let's go, sleepyhead."

She flushed and stuck her tongue out at him before leaving for the clearing.

* * *

><p>It took almost no time at all for all of the students to reach the clearing. Surprisingly enough, nothing appeared to have changed in the area, nor was Monoryuu present.<p>

"What gives?" Angioletta scoffed impatiently. "He's not even here!"

"Maybe he's waiting for the ten minutes to run out?" Lucas suggested.

"Hmph," Fox sneered. "You'd think that a convoluted creature like him would have far better planning than this."

_Just be patient, _Akina wanted to say. But_ no one _wanted to speak to Fox.

It didn't matter anyways. Only a short while later, the ground began to move. Well, no, perhaps 'move' wasn't the right term. The section of ground that they were standing on began to _descend _into the ground_—_grass and all.

Akina nearly fell onto Rafael as they shakily progressed downwards.

"Well," Ukita shouted over the rumbling of the dirt. "I guess that answers that question!"

The earthen platform soon entered a massive, lantern-lit cave. A large, orange shrine gate sat at the front of the cave, tagged with various spiritual symbols and covered in ropes that surrounded the students in a circular formation, corralling them into an area with twenty wooden stands. Trickles of water dripped off of the ice formations along the walls, melted by the heat radiating from the lanterns in the cave.

The platform had no railings or support, except for the four main poles that were placed in each of the corners. The students could easily jump off if they wanted to. Of course, that would mean suicide, seeing how they were hundreds of feet up from the floor of the cavern, and so they waited for the transport to safely reach the bottom.

Monoryuu was waiting for them beneath the gate. Each of the stands had an electronic screen, displaying the name of the stand's designated student. Akina's eyes shifted over to Rina's stand and frowned. Monoryuu had unceremoniously placed a dead hummingbird—Rina's representative animal—at the stand. It hung by a noose around its tiny neck and swayed every so often, pushed by the draft in the caverns.

"Um…" Was all that escaped her lips. She noticed several of the others staring at the dead animal in distaste.

_"__Welcome to the class trial," _Monoryuu's low voice echoed in the spacious area, ignoring their skeptical gazes. _"Before we begin, I, as your headmaster, will go over some ground rules, just in case any of you were too dimwitted to read over the rules provided in your ElectroID."_

_"__One of you is the killer, or, the 'blackened'," _he explained. They understood that all too well already. _"It is up to the rest of you to find the blackened student and expose them for their crimes. Failure to do so will result in punishment for everyone __**but **__the blackened student. Do you understand?"_

There was a mutual nod amongst everyone there.

_"__Very well then. You will have two hours to go over the evidence you have gathered and debate amongst yourselves. Voting will open, regardless of the status of your conversation, at the end of the two hours. Any questions? No? Very well then." _

He laughed softly before slinking silently back under the shrine. _"Good luck."_

Akina's eyes silently jumped to each one of her classmates.

Ukita, Momo, Lucas, Hideo, Jin, Robert, Apus, Zetsu, Rico, Hiiro, Jun, Micho, Fox, Rafael, Ichiro, Miyuki, Kasumi, and Angioletta…

Eighteen classmates—_no, _friends.

And one of them was a killer.


	9. (AN) The End

**The End**

Greetings readers,

What's this? Not your usual 'hello, hello, hello"? _*chuckles* _Of course not, because I won't be using my persona in this short little note.

Welcome to the end of Eternity_014 (the title was supposed to be underscored but drat it all, FFN wouldn't allow such a thing). That's right, this is the end—at least for now.

I was just going to let this project die and fade into the depths of Dangan Ronpa fanfiction, but I figured I owed all you dedicated readers a little something for leaving so many pleasant reviews and keeping it alive for so long. A bit of closure, some might say.

"But fatefulERA, why are you cancelling the story?" you ask.

For starters, I made too many mistakes. I made the mistake of not writing "do not send reused characters" in the first chapter. That turned out to be a major turn-off for me later on. Rina, Constantine, and Micho were all resends, but by the time I found out, it was too late to remove them from the story. I attempted to kill off Rina as soon as possible, but it just didn't feel right at that point.

My writing on its own was faulty. I wanted a feeling of realism so I made the characters distant with each other once the killing was introduced. However, this only made introductions difficult and made the names hard to remember.

The scene with Hideo was overly and prematurely dramatic because I feel that most fanfictions do not talk about the impact of death. Still, it was written poorly and should have been removed while editing.

Either way, after finding out about the recycled characters, I began to lose interest in the project. The plot wasn't solid anyways; I'm absolutely terrible at planning.

I highly suggest you all resubmit your characters to other SYOCs. I haven't written too much about any of them, so I wouldn't consider them to be "recycled".

If there's enough demand, I'd be willing to write an "epilogue" of sorts and summarize what I had planned for the ending. Otherwise, this will be the last chapter of Eternity_014.

Ah yes, and as for my true identity… well, that'll remain a secret for now.


	10. Partial Epilogue

**Partial Epilogue:**

The third trial. Constantine and Kasumi, the SHSL Genius and SHSL Psychoanalyst, had both been found dead two days ago. Their bodies had been hung using rope nooses, from trees on the edge of the forest.

- _one trial later_ -

Monoryuu snorted, then began to chuckle. His chuckling quickly escalated into laughter which resounded throughout the frozen caverns with an eerie echo.

_"So you all thought it was Rafael, the SHSL Memorizer, huh…"_ he laughed. _"Sorry, but that's completely wrong."_

A few gasps were heard from the remaining students. Someone choked and coughed.

"No…" Akina whispered. "That's… we can't be…"

"I told you, it wasn't me," Rafael said defeatedly.

"B-But the evidence," Lucas said. "All the evidence pointed to you."

His head was hung. "I was framed. Didn't I say so?"

Momo wrapped her arms around herself, shivering. "We're all going to die," she realized. "Guys, I-I don't want to die here. I don't want to lose to Monoryuu."

"We won't lose," a familiar voice murmured. The remaining students turned in surprise.

There stood Kasumi, at her stand. Looking around, Constantine stood in her place as well.

"H-Headphone girl?" Ichiro stepped back in disbelief. "How the fuck are you alive?!"

The hooded girl smiled softly, though something was… _different_. "Magic."

"It must be an illusion," Robert said. "... I would say hysteria, but clearly we all see her. Something's off about this though…"

What he said was indeed correct. The two presumed-to-be-dead girls seemed older, though not by very much, and their clothing had changed slightly.

"Kufufufu~" Constantine's familiar laugh rang out throughout the trial room. Her voice had assumed a darker tone. "You thought we'd let the game end here…?"

"That'd be such a waste…" Kasumi agreed. "Look, you're all turning red… what a pretty red…"

"Hush, Kasumi. You can mull over your weird colors later." Constantine spat. "Don't you think it's time for the big reveal?"

The quiet girl nodded.

"What big reveal?" Rico asked quickly. "Aren't we all going to be executed for getting the culprit wrong?"

"Not necessarily," someone said. Akina's voice.

"Akina?" Miyuki asked. "Did you say something?"

The young theorist quickly shook her head. "That wasn't me!"

"Of course not," the voice said again. "It was me."

Walking out from behind Monoryuu was a girl with a white scarf, a black jacket, and black hair. An older, monochrome-outfitted version of Akina.

The original students in the cavern all did double takes. _Their _Akina was standing right there. But the girl over there looked just like her, save for a look of maturity and gloom.

The older versions of Constantine and Kasumi threw off their hoods and jackets, revealing their own monochrome styles.

"What the hell…?" Zetsu asked in disbelief.

"Sur-prise~!" Constantine sang, gesturing to her little trio. "Kufufufu! The looks on your faces are priceless!"

"Oh _shut up, _Constantine." The blackened Akina sneered, clearly irritated by her cohort's actions. Her crimson eyes fell upon the young, innocent Akina—the one that hadn't been touched by despair. At least, not yet.

Akina shivered under the harsh glare of her doppelganger. It was all too confusing for even her, a theorist, to understand. At last, the despair-tainted girl raised an arm and pointed at Akina with a heavy sigh.

"You there. You know why we're here, don't you?"

"Akina?" Ukita asked apprehensively.

The theorist frantically shook her head. "I don't—I don't know. I-I can't remember."

"What?" Her older clone snorted. "No wonder you were so useless through all of this. The only reason you even got this far is because of those four over there."

She gestured at Jin, Jun, Micho, and a dead otter at what had been Angioletta's stand.

"Oh right—" the blackened mended after realizing her mistake. "—the comedian's dead. Great. I was getting tired of her irritating voice anyways."

Hiiro placed his hands on his stand. "What's so special about those four?"

"We…" Jin started shakily. "..."

"... don't belong here." Kasumi smiled, savoring their obvious discomfort at being called out.

"How can they not belong here?" Ukita questioned. "They've gone through this with the rest of us!"

Micho fiddled with her ahoge. "You see, we came with them."

"Y-You're despairs?!" Lucas cried.

"No!" she shouted back. "We're not like them. We came to protect you, but…"

Despair-Akina scoffed. "They couldn't do a fucking thing in the end. Couldn't prevent the killing game, couldn't prevent the Future Foundation's collapse, couldn't get you to the final trial—I could go on. _Useless._"

"Hang on!" Momo interjected. "'Future Foundation'? 'Final Trial'? Wh-What are those supposed to be?"

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with, now that they've failed!" Constantine replied. "Speaking of the future though... that's where we're from! Kufufufu~"

"What the fuck?!" Ichigo yelled. "You're sayin' you're from the fuckin' future now?! Am I on a drug trip or some shit?"

"Nope! At least, not anymore. It was pretty fun injecting you with all those drugs and watching you suffer a few years ago though. You were a great plaything, at least until you—!"

"Enough!" The blackened Akina growled, silencing the sadistic girl at once. Her gaze went back to the young Akina. "_You_ don't belong either."

"Huh?" she responded feebly. "Wh-Why me?"

"You're from the past," Kasumi answered. "The gap in your memories—two years—is how far you jumped. We come from two years in the future, making the total difference equivalent to four years in age."

"Regrettably, you're also the first to do so," Constantine sneered. "Imagine what could've happened if we'd actually gotten someone _intelligent!"_

"She's quite interesting though, isn't she?" Despair-Akina mused. "So young, so naive. It's too bad you had to interrupt. I wanted to replace her in this little game."

"Replace her? Replace who?" Akina asked.

"Well, if I'm from the future and you're from the past, who do you think was originally here?" When Akina didn't reply, the blackened-girl continued. "That's right. The girl whose identity we both tried to assume… Akina Hiroyuki. The 6th student of Timeline-14. T014-06."


End file.
